Ilibrary of congress.^ 

# .._ # 



f UNITED STATEiS OK AMERICA. . 



UIION SPEECHES 



DELIVERED IN EliGLAND 



DURING THE PRESENT 



-A^IVIERIC^TSr T\^^R 



J 
GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN, 

OF BOSTON, UNITED STATES, 

AUTHOR OF "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD," "YOUNG AMERICA IN WALL STREET," 
"YOUNG AMERICA ON SLAVERY," "SPREAD EAGLEISM," "REPLY TO 
THOMAS COLLEY GRATTAN," "OBSERVATIONS ON STREET 
OA* jj^ RAILWAYS," ETC., ETC., ETC. 



T^?^ 



The profits on the sale of this book, are to be devoted to the establishing of the " London 
American," the only American Organ in Europe. It is a Newspaper pledged to support the Laws 
and the Constitution of the United States, and has already done the Country good service during 
this ungodly Rebellion, in upholding the honor of the Federal Flag. 




T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, No. 306 CHESTNUT STREET. 

LONDON: JOHN ADAMS KNIGHT, 100 FLEET STREET, 

AT OFFICE OF THE LONDON AMERICAN. 

1862. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by 

T. 15. TETERSON & BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court, in and for the Eastern District of 

Pennsylvania. 



TO THE 



AMERICAN PEOPLE, 

FROM ONE WHO APPRECIATES THEIR 

DEVOTED PATRIOTISM AND DAUNTLESS COURAGE, 

T 

AND HAS FULL FAITH IN THE 

PROMPT RECONSTRUCTION, 

AND 

ENDURING PERMANENCY 

OF THE 



UNION. 



PREFACE. 

!Mr. Traill has collected and kindly permitted me to republish 
in book form, the several speeches delivered in England during 
the past year, which have been so extensively copied by the 
American Press, and have won for him a time honored reputation 
in his Native Land. 

Many of the events that have taken place, it will be seen, 
were foreshadowed in tliese speeches long in advance, and the 
Union Sentiment that prevails will show how well the Country 
was represented, at least by one Loyal American, who had the 
moral courage to express his opinions, although at the risk of 
sacrificing his extensive interests in England. The speeches are 
printed as they originally appeared in the " London American," — 
Mr. Train's time being too limited to revise them, and erase the 
numerous repetitions that must inevitably appear when so many 
speeches have been delivered in so short clfcimc upon the same 
subject, but as he has generously presented the entire profits that 
may arise from their sale, to establish on a permanent basis an 
American Journal in Tjondon, I may be excused for any errors 
that may appear from this hasty compilation. 

JOHN ADAMS KNIGHT, 

Office of the " London American," 

100 Fleet Street, London. 



TABLE OF COA^TENTS. 



♦♦ 



PAGE. 

Speech delivered in Liverpool, 1859. In response to the toast, "John 

Bright, Esq., M. P., and financial reform." 23 

Letter January, 28, 1861. On "Dissolving the Union." 25 

Celebration of the 129th Anniversary of the Birthday of Washington, in 

London, 1861, by a Banquet at Teuton's Hotel 28 

Speech on the " American Crisis," at the inauguration dinner of the 
London, and Provincial Discount Company, April 27, 1861, at the 
London Tavern 31 

Speech delivered at Exmouth, at the opening of the Exmouth Kailway, 
May 1, 1861. In response to the toast "Success to Agriculture 
and Commerce." 33 

Speech delivered at an inauguration Banquet at Islington, May 25, 1861, 

in response to the toast "The Chairman." 36 

Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June T, 1861, "by a sumptuous 

Union Dejeuner, at the Westminster Palace Hotel 38 

Letter Sept. 22, 1861, on "War, Cotton, and a suggestion." 45 

Letter Oct. 19, 1861, on "How to punish Traitors." 46 

Speech on the " American Question," at a dinner given by Henry Wood 

Esq., at Westminster Palace Hotel, Oct. 30, 1861 46 

The " New York Herald Letter," which caused so much hostilit}' against 

Mr. Train in England 50 



22 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Speech delivered Nov. 25, 1861, in the Lecture Hall at the Mechanics, 
Insiitution, Ilanley, on the subject of the " Civil War in America," 
the profits being devoted to the benefits of the "Borough," and the 
Bryan Street Ragged Schools 51 

Letter of Nov. 25, ISGl, on "the American Pirate Nashville." 58 

Speech at Aldershot, Dec. 6, 18G1, on "the American Crisis," for the 
benefit of the Aldershot Institution for the Mental Improvement, 
and Social reform 59 

Speech on " the American War " delivered at Tunstall-on-Trent, Dec. 10, 

1861, on behalf of the Tunstall AthensEum and Reading Room 63 

Impromptu on witnessing the dignity and calmness of England in the 

imagined outrage to her Flag 68 

Speech at the "Forum," Dec. 23, 18G1, on the "Trent." 68 

Speech at the "Forum," Dec. 30, 1861, on the "Emperor of the 

French. ' 71 

Speech at Lslington Debating Hall (the Belvidere) Jany. 4, 1862, in 

" Discounting the Future, and in Defence of Mr Seward " 73 

Correspondence with Sir Richard Mayne, on the American Flag 76 

" Mr. Train after Mr, Yancey with a Sharp Stick." His letter of Jany. 
28, 1862, in reply to the letter of Mr. Yancey's, which appeared in 
the "Daily News" of Jany. 25, 1862 76 

" Another lU-cantation — Mr. Train turned Secessionist." His speech at 
the "Tenii)le Forum," Feby. 10, 1862, on the question, "Is the 
North or the South right?" 78 

Opinions of the Press leaders from the "Morning Chronicle" of Dec. 11, 

1861 82 

Testimonial to Cleorgo Francis Train, from the Commercial, Financial, 

Literary, and Political citizens of Philadelphia 84 

AnniverHary of Wa.shington's Birthday, Feby. 22d, 1862, celebrated by a 
])ul)li<- breakfa.st, at the Freemason's Tavern, London ; Rev. Charles 
P. Mcllwain. D. D., Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, in the chair SC 



TRAIN'S UNION SPEECHES. 



JOHN BRIGHT AND FINANCIAL REFORM. 

\IiVom the Northern Daily Times, Liverpool, 1859.] 

[This speech is worthy of recording in order to awaken attention to the outrageous Oceau Postage System, 
where some twenty thousand dollars a ton are charged for letters.] 



In the absence of a distinguished gentle- 
man, J,ohn Bright, Esq., M. P., who was to 
respond to the toast of the evening — Mr. 
Train was suddenly called upon by the chair- 
man, Mr. Charles Millner. — Gentlemen, 
this toast is to be responded to by a gentle- 
man on ray left hand, and T shall not antici- 
pate the observations which he will make, 
but will simply say, that although not a 
citizen of Great Britain, yet, having lived 
in British colonies and under British rule, 
he thoroughly understands the political con- 
stitution of Great Britain, and he can tell 
us something, too, of the political institutions 
of the United States. I call upon you to 
give him au impartial hearing, quite satis- 
tied that he will tell us some truths worth 
the knowing. In conclusion, 'gentlemen, I 
beg to propose the toast of " Mr. John 
Bright," coupling with it " Parliamentary 
Reform," and I call on my friend Mr. 
George Francis Train to respond to it. 
(Cheers.) 

Mr. George Francis Train, of America, 
rose to respond, and was received with loud 
cheers. He said : — I know not why, Mr. 
Chairman, you have thrown so Royal a 
mantle over my shoulders when others sur- 
round me, so to the manor born it would fit 
them and suit you better. I like responsi- 
bility, but to respond to the sentiment on 
which you have called me up is weightier far 
than chartering ships or negotiating con- 
tracts. This noble welcome almost makes 
me forget where I am or what to say. For- 
get that I was born in another land, in a 
distant country, forget that I am a citizen of 
England, for by your courtesy and your 
cheers you have made me one of you. (Ap- 
plause.) What have I done, where is my 
right to this high honor ? 'Tis true, I was 
active as a merchant in despatching ships 



here some ten years ago. That I paid large 
sums of money to your docks, your mer- 
chants, your bankers, and your tradesmen. 
It is true that I took a deep interest in your 
commerce when I was among you, and tlie 
hospitalities which were tendered me I never 
forgot, when serving in other and tar-off 
lands. A boy in New p]ngland, a youth in 
Old England, a man in Young Australia, I 
know something of all the Saxon lands. In 
an English colony I was asked to represent 
the diggers in the council, but I was not a 
politician. I was simply a merchant; not 
an English merchant, but an American mer- 
chant ; and as a colonist, I was an advocate 
for Reform in pilotage. Reform in tonnage 
dues, Reform in the sales of land. Reform in 
the modes of transacting business. The 
Australians will give me credit, while not 
mixing in their local politics, for being a re- 
former in the Melbourne Chamber of Com- 
merce, on the land question, and the Liver- 
pool merchants will also give me credit for 
being a reformer in removing some of the 
restrictions upon their shipping ! (Ap- 
plause.) If that is why you thus honor me, 
I accept the honor, l)ut decline, as I did in 
Australia, to interfere in your politics or 
your government. If I can respond to the 
toast in an otf-hand way, I will do so. You 
permit it — I proceed. Americans like John 
Bright, (Hear, hear.) Senator Douglas 
told me he considered him one of the ruling 
minds of Europe. I like the man ; I like 
the speaker; I like the matter that ho 
speaks. In the intellectual forest, Mr. 
Bright is an oak; — (cheers)— among the 
animals, a lion ! in commerce, a steam-ship 
of two thousand horse power! a Mont 
Blanc among the mountains ; and among 
the nations — he is England ; if his reforms 
will benefit England, 1 hope that it will 



21 



TRAINS UNION SPEECHES. 



succeed. With his name I see connected 
rarliainontary Reform. Now I must, in 
81)oaiiiii;r to it. ask yon to romombcr, that I 
ail) not a ])olitician. I am a merchant. I 
make books. I make speeches. I write 
letters, but not as a politician, only as a 
merchant; and in speaking of Parliamentary 
Reform, 1 will respond to it as an American 
— and only as an American, as a guest, and 
not as a member of your association. In a 
few words 1 will define my position. If Re- 
form means placing men in Parliament who 
will cultivate American friendship, who will 
disdain to misrepresent her; who will Viear 
towards her the affection that Americabcars 
to Kngland ; who will study her geography; 
examine her institutions, a])preciate her pro- 
gress, and not slander her character — if 
Parliamentary Reforms means to elect 
members that will spend a hundred pounds 
or so, and run the risk of a little sea-sick- 
ness on the water, and a little extract of 
tobacco on the land by visiting America — 
If that is one of the virtues of Parliamentary 
Reform, you may count on me as one of 
your mostenthusiastic supporters ! (Cheers.) 
The people of America want to know the 
people of Kngland — I wish you knew us 
l)etter, and we wish to know you better. 
Iteform is the offspring of knowledge. Re- 
form means improvement — a desire for 
something better. There are many things 
that I wish Mother England would reform 
in — but none more than reformation in her 
opinions regarding America ! 1 want her, 
as a matter purely experimental, to turn her 
pliilanthropij to Africa during the next ten 
vears, and liuy our cotton at present prices. 
In other words I want her to look through 
the practical eyes of commerce instead of 
the theoretical glasses of Exeter Hall, 
(('heers.) Englishmen and Americans do 
not meet often enough over the social board. 
I believe in the aristocracy of good dinner, 
l>ut more in the aristocracy of intellect. 
The physical treat should be hidden in the 
shadow of the mental. 1 believe in the 
aristocracy of good nature, the aristocracy 
of pood fellowship, the aristocracy of a 
good hearty iaugii, and would advocate that 
aristocracy in Parliamentary Reform that 
Would remove all taxes on the mind. (Ap- 
jdaui-e.) 1 should say to the statesmen, 
I'ax the belly — not the brain ! Remove the 
tax on knowledge, iiut tax l)achelors, tax 
widows, lax young men jjarting their hair 
in the middle, tax crinoline, and, above all, 
tax gruiiililing, Imt remove the tax on pa- 
perl {Laughter and applause.) Here is a 
held fur Parliamentary reform. AVliv pay 
out of your pocket .CJ,()()(),()()U for educa- 
tion, and tlien force half of it liack again in 
taxing the chief agent of education — paper ! 
1 am u free trader. Free trade in ship- 
l)ing, free trade in finance, free trade in 
theology, free trade in education, free 



trade in newspapers, free trade in parlia- 
mentary reform. Remove the tax on paper 
and everyliody would read, editors would 
write kindly about America, and people 
would become better acquainted on this 
matter. I gladly reply to the toast John 
Bright, and Ocean postage reform. Remove 
the taxes on newspapers. Remove the high 
protective duties on letters, and be a free- 
trader in the expansion of the mind. Why 
is it that Englishmen know so little of 
America ? Why is it that members of par- 
liament like Mr. Roebuck cannot come 
within 30 per cent, of any American statis- 
tics — as to number of States — or number of 
population ? (Laughter.) It is because 
that England takes our money for her iron, 
her coal, her manufactures, and we take hers 
for our cotton, our sugar, and our tobacco, 
but the free trade in geography, and in his- 
tory is all on our side, simply because she 
needs some Parliamentary Reform in re- 
moving the tax on knowledge — by reducing 
the Atlantic postage — and the tax on paper ! 
No other land, barbarous or civilized, in 
this respect, follows England's example. 
Strange as it may appear, England is the 
only place on the face of the globe that 
levies a tax on paper 1 (Hear, hear.) 
Through the courtesy of Charles Mackay, 
of the Illustrated Neivs, I was present as a 
correspondent to the New York Herald at 
the delegation that waited upon Lord 
Derby. 1 heard Milner Gibson, Chambers, 
Frazer, Cassell, and others plead their 
cause, and I was surprised to see the cool- 
ness and the boldness with which a Prime 
Minister would dare to snub a hundred 
editors. " You have told us nothing new — 
and the treasury is shoi-t — good morning !" 
(Laughter.) 

The Press is greater Mian the Commons 
— the Lords — even the Sovereign! The 
Press, said I)e Tocciueville, is the only en- 
gine that can place the same thought before 
millions at the same time ! When Sir 
Robert Peel removed the dead weight from 
the springs of trade in 1844, industry pros- 
pered, and the revenue was more than re- 
covered. So would Lord Derby find it with 
the paper duty — more newspa[)ers — more 
magazines — more printed matter would re- 
cpiire more paper mills and more workmen. 
Prosperous workmen buy luxuries, and back 
comes the revenue. Painters were afraid 
of photography — now thousands of artists 
are employed. In reality, the Press is the 
first, not the fourth estate ; and as Dr. Mac- 
kay said at the Washington anniversary in 
London, on 'J'uesday last, " The Press should 
be first on the list, not last." But the noble 
Earl smilingly bowed out the delegation — 
and I saw these words in a hundred edito- 
rials on the perceptive faculties of a hundred 
editors, remove the paper duty, or we will 
remove you I While responding to this im- 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



25 



portant toast, I have one equally important 
to propose. I am an advocate for rof'orin. 
I would sweep out the corners — brush down 
the col)webs — scrub up the floor — clean out 
the Cal)inet — and put the House in order. 
(Laughter.) This can only be done by as- 
sociation. It is the Creator's law — united 
we stand — dissever we fall. Association is 
the lever that acts upon the balance of re- 
form, and removes the Augean accumulation 
of abuse. Insects move in masses — fish in 
shoals — birds in flocks — animals in herds — 
fruit in clusters — trees in forests — so the 
association of virtuous men can make an 
empire more rapidly than an association of 
vicious men can break one. (Cheers.) Free 
discussion is the way, says Macaulay, to 
winnow the grain of virtue from the chaff of 
vice. While none respects the advanced in 
years more than myself, I believe in the 
united action of young men. I soon dis- 
covered, in moving among the world's lead- 
ers, that, as many clerks are cleverer than 
their employers, so many secretaries furnish 
brains as well as hands for their ministers. 
(Applause.) Think well of yourselves ; your 
fathers did it before you. The old Chinese 
proverb says, that if a man is not tall at 
twenty, strong at thirty, wise at forty, rich 
at fifty, he will never be strong, tall, wise or 
rich. I like Liverpool, I like London, I 
like Old England; but I do not like to see 
her misrepresent her best friend — Young 
America. I like your pavements, your po- 
licemen, your penny postage ; but you are 
pound foolish upon the Atlantic, though 
penny wise upon the land. / advocate par- 
liamentary/ reform in the Ocean Penny 
Postage, lam a free-trader in thought 
and in letters — in pamphlets, in pri7iting. 
One shilliug the half ounce on a letter to 
America is a serious tax on knowledge. 
(Hear.) Thirty-six hundred pounds ster- 
ling is too exhorbitant a freight to pay for 
one ton of letters ! Reform is wanted here ; 
and John Bright is the man to oil the wheels 
of legislation, and bring the tivo countries 
together by an Ocean Penny Postage. 



(Cheers.) Before proposing the sentiment 
of "The Reform Club of Liverpool," I want 
to ask of it one favor. "While your are re- 
forming your weights and measures — while 
the (,'entral is working its way on the Corn 
Exchange, and decimals are V)eiiig intro- 
duced in selling grain, preparatory to dis- 
placing the cumbrous machinery of pounds, 
shillings, and pence — while Parliament is 
agitating political reform — I am anxious to 
see some reform in the education of your 
children — reform in your school houses. It 
is morally wrong to place in the hands of 
your children a geography that devotes but 
one half page to the United States of 
America! (Hear.) Children should be 
taught that Americans arc not all Filibus- 
ters and slavedrivers — not all practisers on 
the bowie knife and spittoon. How many 
present can tell me the population, the num- 
ber of States, of the Union? Who knows of 
our progress in canals, in railways, in educa- 
tion ? Who is aware that America has 
3,300.000 square miles, and forty-one States 
and Territories, while all Europe has but 
3,750.000 square miles, and fifty-five States 
and Territories ! (Hear.) Reform your 
school books, and teach your children that 
the only true friend you have on the face of 
the earth is America! While the four mil- 
lions of armed men point their bayonets 
towards you from p]urope — because they 
hate your freedom, while the volcano of dis- 
content is seething, boiling and bubbling on 
the Continent — let England turn towards 
America, who loves this old land as much 
as England will permit — and there she will 
find more true friends than among those of 
a different language, a different religion and 
different institutions. (Applause.) What- 
ever may take place on the morrow, England 
and America will be strong and steadfast 
friends. Gentlemen, I give you what I should 
have proposed before I occupied so much of 
your time — I give you the sentiment of 
"The Reform Club of Liverpool, success to 
it and may it prosper." Mr. Train resumed 
his seat amid loud and prolonged applause. 



"YOUNG AMERICA" ON DISSOLVING THE UNION. 

[To the Editor of the London American.] 

[This letter, written a year since, before the great nprisiug of the Union men of the North, shows graphically 
Mr. Train's power in foreshadowing events.] 



Dear Sir: — How about the Comet? 
Where is Dr. Cumraing? Elements war 
with elenicnis ! Opinion fights opinion, and 
General Nightmare commands the World's 
forces ! Men's minds are unsettled, and 
people are growing madder and madder. 
Old institutions, like old vases, smash with 
the slightest touch of the hammer. One 



hemisphere competes with the other to see 
which shall produce the most excitement. 
The pit is delighted, and the dress circle is 
amazed. Such audiences the weld never 
saw. Polj>ical earthquakes everywhere 
shake the nations. One wonders to see the 
sun shine amid such war of elements, wrwck 
of matter, and crash of thrones. Asia shakos 



26 



UNION SPEECHES. 



as with the palsy — Europe quakes with the 
volciiiiic fires of revolution. Syria swept oft' 
the Christians in a single nigiit, like grass 
before the locust, or cattle with the mur- 
rain! Never before were such stakes played 
for; and the bystanders seemed more ex- 
cited than the players. Garibaldi, not satis- 
fied with conquering ten millions with his 
company of red shirts, is loading his guns to 
redeem some other nations, while Mazzini is 
preparing the cartridges. England all the 
time is calm as a May morn, while the Gal- 
lic Emperor amuses himself by skating. 

AVhile the fire slumbers in the unexploded 
shells of European politics, the armies rest 
upon their expectations to gaze with as- 
tonishment on the strange scene in the 
"Western World. Wheels of finance are 
getting clogged; wheels of commerce are 
being blocked, making merchants look timid 
and bankers look blue ; when Greek meets 
Greek, then comes the tug of — accommoda- 
tion paper ; all talk America ; leader after 
leader thunders forth from the British Press, 
showing love of America by rebuking Se- 
cession. England, however, takes advan- 
tage of our ([uarrel to bag Anderson, which 
she would not have attempted three mouths 
ago. Had he been a white man, he would 
have been given up at once. "Why is it that 
England feels more deeply injured at the 
I0.SS of one negro than at the butchery of a 
thousand Chinese ? 

As our nation rose with one voice to show 
love of England in welcoming England's 
heir, so England shows friendship for Ame- 
,rica by praying that we may hang together, 
even though it may be necessary to let a 
few hang :»eparately ! 

All talk the American crisis. Go into 
Belgravia or Lombard Street, and Ameri- 
cans battle with Americans, representing 
their respective States, in explaining to the 
English the merits of the question which 
none of them understand. 1 laugh at dan- 
ger, and tell them, with Governor Bunks, 
liiat there can be no peaceable dissolution. 
When two people make an agreement, the 
contract is not broken because one objects. 
Man and wife cannot be separated without 
Sir Creswell Creswell's edict ; neither is a 
Sovereign State out of the Union because 
she has voted herself out. Our National 
school of forty scholars is not broken up 
because some of them are playing truant for 
a day or two ; wait till tin; Federal master 
discovers that the rules are disobeyed, as he 
bus already Ijegun to do. The terms used 
now arc too mild by half. Secession is lie 
hrllion ; Nullitication is Htvolnl/im ; Dis- 
union is Jli'ik Trcdsun ; and Disunionists, 
whether Northern or Southern, are Traitors, 
and should be shot I 

It si-ems but the other day, that I penned 
the following thoughts in the concluding 
page of u small book on slavery, written for 



publication in England (where I proved that 
American slavery for the black and just the 
reverse for the white man, was a stepping 
stone from African barbarism to Christian 
civilization). They were aimed at the Bene- 
dict Arnolds of my own land as well as the 
Judas Iscariots of foreign countries, and 
were strong enough for the most violent 
pro-slavery man. 

These men may yell for dissolution, but 
they must not touch the Union of our States. 
No Northern abolitionist or Southern fire- 
eater dare act. The constitution allows 
them to talk, so let them howl and scream. 
Let them rant, and swear, and curse. The 
Union will live in spite of the death-rattle 
croak of the Union-destroying knaves. 

No, the Union is safe; mark the vision; 
the acquaintance ; the courtship ; the doubt 
and fear; the association of States; the 
dowry ; the children ; the grandchildren ; 
observe how they cling to the parent stem ; 
the constitutional oak ; how small the acorn 
and how massive the tree ; how deep-rooted 
the trunk, and how wide-spread the branches ; 
like the great banyan in Calcutta's garden, 
towering high in the air, our American ban- 
yan stands out, the patriarch of the race. 
Note its hundred branches, like a general 
with his officers, regiments, and companies ; 
like an admiral, with flag-ship and fleet. 
The Union is safe, in spite of those who 
would do it harm. Virginia, the first, is the 
centre of a hundred States. 

America bathes her feet in both oceans, 
and laves her brow in gulfs on either side. 
Oceans, lakes, gulfs, valleys, have been 
joined by canals, steamboats, railways, and 
telegraphs, all binding the Union of my na- 
tive land. Friendship for England is strong 
in America. I want England to feel the 
same toward America. 

The age of painting ; the age of gunpow- 
der; the age of printing; the age of New- 
tonian philosophy ; the age of Napoleon's 
conquests, may have passed, but the age of 
our Union's brightest history is to come. 

Dissolve (lie Union! — Never! When the 
sun shines at midnight, the moon at mid- 
day ; when nature stops a moment to rest, 
or man forgets to be selfish; when flowers 
lose their odor, and trees shed no leaves ; 
when impossibilities are in fashion, the Union 
may be broken ! 

Dissolve the Union! — No political fire 
can burn under any party crucible with suf- 
ficient intensity to melt the rock on which 
the nation stands ! 

There may be men base enough to rob 
and murder, steal coflin-plates, and strike 
women, but how degraded must be the crim- 
inal who could calmly witness the disruption 
of these sovereign States? 

Dissolve the Union! IIow is it to be 
accomplished? How divide the national 
flag ? Who takes the stars, who the stripes ? 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



21 



The Blinker Hill Monument is at the 
North, will the South share it? IIow are 
you to cut asunder the Rocky Mountains; 
the Allcfrhanies ? and how will you divide 
the Grand River ? who takes Niagara Falls ? 
who the Mammoth Cave? 

Dissolve the Union ! — Destroy our mo- 
ther ! trample on our father's tomb ! dese- 
crate our children ! God forbid ! ! 

What will they do with the pine of Caro- 
lina ; the dm of Ashland, and the oak of 
Marshfield ? Who takes the trunks, who 
the branches ? 

Dissolve the Union ! — What ! divide the 
Constitution ? Which half for the north- 
erners, which the southerners? And, great 
God ! what will they do with the Declaration 
of Independence ? Rash men, forbear ! for 
before that dark deed can be perpetrated, 
you must divide the grave of Washington ! 

Dissolve the Union ! — Who will pay the 
public debt? who is to have the National 
arms? IIow is the army to be divided? 
How the Navy ? How are you to manage 
West Point ? and what will you do with 
General Scott? 

Dissolve the Union ! — Will each State 
take back her marble block from the Wash- 
ington Monument? What is to be done 
with the National Library ? How arrange 
the relics of the Exploring Expedition ? 
Who takes the Patent OfBce? Is the free 
trade in revolution to settle the question of 
the capital invested in custom houses ! 

Dissolve the Union! Never; so long as 
there are sects in churches ; weeds in gar- 
dens ; disputes in families ; wars with na- 
tions. No, statesmen of Europe, you may 
reason, you may sneer, you may hope, but 
that cannot be. Your thrones, your courts, 
your governments will fall and crumble into 
ruin long ere that day when the New World 
commits the national suicide, which you 
have daily predicted for over eighty years ! 

Dissolve the Union! — Statesmen of Eng- 
land, you know not what you say; when we 
fall you will die ; when John Bright is Presi- 
dent of the Republic of Great Britain by 
universal suffrage of a contented people ; 
when Congress obliges by law an American 
President to marry a European Princess ; 
when the Pope leases Fanueil Hall for his 
city residence ; when Alexander of Russia 
and Napoleon of France are elected senators 
from Arizona; then, statesmen of England, 
there may be some hopes that your wishes 
may be realized of seeing the dissolution of 
the United States of America; but not till 
then ! Englishmen should remember that 
the children of America are taught to look 
upon the Union of their country with the 
same sacred respect that the children of 
England are taught to look upon the person 
of their Queen. 

Dissolve the Union ! — What, raise a tor- 
nado in the politics of the land ! Bring on 



a whirlwind around our statesmen ; a ty- 
phoon among our States ! a national earth- 
quake, to destroy with the volcanic fires of 
party strife, the grandest fabric ever raised 
under God by the hands of man ! What will 
they do with the Capitol ? The treasury 
buildings ? And who shall have the While 
House, the National home of sixteen Presi- 
dents ? Who will take hail Columbia? who 
the Star Spangled Banner? How dispose 
of the National Eagle, and pray who is to 
claim Yankee Doodle ? 

Dissolve the Union ! — Impossible ! would 
there be two Republics, or two Kingdoms? 
Would they be friends or foes ? Which 
would be grander, the twenty millions or the 
eight? and when the two governments send 
their ambassadors to foreign courts, which 
will be- the most respected, the representa- 
tive of the white man, or the black. 

Dissolve the Union ! — Stand off all ye 
ranters ; ye traitors ; ye parricides ; ye coward 
statesmen ; ye craven hearted knaves, leave 
alone the Bible of our political faith. Thus 
far I have lived a life free from taint. No 
man, however anxious, can find a blemish on 
my character; but were the Union of my 
native land a cord, and the power of disso- 
lution vested in one man who would consent 
to do so black a crime as sever it, I would 
crawl on hands and feet from State to State, 
and if fair fight would not arrest his falling 
hand, I declare unto you disunionists of the 
South and disunionists of the North, I would 
assassinate him ! 

The Republican words — Liberty! Equal- 
ity ! Fraternity ! under a free translation, 
signifies to-day in France, Jufantry ! Cav- 
alry! Artillery! In England, Steam! 
Gas! Electricity ! While in America we 
have no meaning but Union! Constitution ! 
Country !" 

The foregoing. Fourth of July after din- 
ner thoughts, I wish to modify so far as the 
assassinating paragraph is concerned. I 
find on the principle therein advocated, I 
should have my hands full, and consider that 
absence of body, these disunion times, is far 
preferable to presence of mind. The fact 
is, I am not a fighting man, and have always 
had a presentiment that on the field of bat- 
tle I should be shot in the back, hence, 
always respected the Irish soldier who saved 
his life hy buckling his breast-plate on be- 
hind ! When I talked so loud nbout slaugh- 
tering people, I didn't mean it, I was phiying 
the game of brag. Barking dogs never bite. 
'J'his ajiplies with no more singular accuracy 
to my case, than to the belligerent Vikings 
of the North, or the fighting orators of the 
Palmetto State. Two merchant steamers, 
manned with three rifled cannon, and one 
hundred thousand pou)uls, voted for an 
army to fight the more or less United btates, 
will explain to strangers the imminent dan- 
ger of twenty millions of Union men. Major. 



28 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



Anderson, sinple-handed, is equal to the 
entire force of tlie mutinoers. 

The mere smell of powder makes me turn 
pale, so 1 hasten to retract that assassina- 
ting boast, for fear some Uarolineaii call me 
out, when no doubt I should prove my cool- 
ness by shooting uiy second through the 
head. The fact is, the Norlli and South 
have gone far enough to prove their pluck, 
and nothing will do them more honor than 
to show the white feather. Do you want to 
fight ? No ! Then come on — explains the 
exact sentiment on both side. Emerson 
thinks it singular that Americans should 
have, instead of water on the brain, a little 
gas there. Every four years they blow off 
steam, but their fighting is reserved for 
strangers. 

The thunder-bolt drives off miasma; 
storms purify the air ; the clash of flint and 
steel creates sparks of light; snuff the can- 
dle and it burns the brighter ; so the war of 
words in the West may produce peace and 
concord among men. 

All tlie Federal Government have to do 
is to buttle up a few of the rattlesnakes that 
have crawled into the eagle's nest. Beacon 
lights signify that safety is near, as well as 
warn us against danger. 'Tis always dark- 
est just before day. Rome may not be the 
only republic saved by opportune cackling. 



The signal gun of disunion is worth fifty 
millions to the country. Tlie Hartford Con- 
vention gave half a century's lease to the 
Constitution, and the Secession cry will 
renew it for a hundred years more. Stack 
the wheat sheaves together, said Seward, at 
the New England dinner, and the wind may 
blow in vain. Now is the opportunity to 
oil and repair the machine that has been 
working for over eighty years. 

Repeal the Personal Liberty Bills, and 
let the question of climate settle the question 
of slavery. We have been legislating twenty- 
five years for the blacks ; I like the whites 
best. It is no more than fair that once in a 
while majorities should rule, and it is time 
that our thirty millions of white men were 
cared for. I repeat, let the question of 
climate settle the compromise. When 
slavery ceases to compete with free labor ; 
when England ceases to buy eighty-.four per 
cent, of our cotton ; when abolitionism is 
really honest, we can again turn to abusing 
each other. But now let us shake hands 
and be friends. The vane on St. Paul's 
changes, with every wind, but the old cathe- 
dral stands the blast of a^jes. Let the one 
represent our party politics, let the other 
speak the strength of a united nation. 

GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN. 

London, January 28, 1862. 



CELEBRATIOxN OF THE 129TH A^^NIYERSAEY 

OF THE 

EIKTIIDAY OF WASHINGTON, IN LONDON, 

[From the London American of February 23, 1861.] 



WASHINGTON S BIRTHDAY. 

At Fenton's Hotel, St. James's Street, 
Mr. Train gave a dinner to several English 
puest.a. ^\ e have reported for our columns 
the speeches of the gentlemen present, which 
will sjiriik for themselves. Special interest 
attached to the event, from the present dis- 
turbed state of the nation, which the wisdom 
of him whose memory they celebrated was 
BO largely instrumental in establishing, and 
from tlio fact thai a large portion of the 
comjiaiiy were English Legislators. The 
rejKirl occupies a large ])ortion of our space, 
but We lire certain that our readers in every 
part of the world will peruse it with interest. 

wasiiinqton's birthdav. 

" V<jU7tg America" enlertaiuH Old Kiujland. 

We have no doubt that our friends on 

both sides of the Atlantic will read as a 

matter of interest the following report of 



Street Railway "Train's" dinner on Wash- 
ington's Birthday. We cannot do better 
than give, as an introduction, the rather 
novel circular placed before each guest on 
taking his seat at table : 

" Dinner given by Mr. George Francis 
Train to the following gentlemen, February 
L'2d, 18G1, at Fenton's Hotel, St. James's 
Street, London, in remembrance of the 
Birthday of Washington : 

" There rests the raan, the flower of human kind, 
Whose visage mild bespoke his nobler mind ; 
There rests the soldier who his sword ne'er drew 
But in a righteous cause, to freedom true ; 
There rests the hero, who ne'er fought for fame. 
Yet gained more glory tlian a Ca'sar's name. 
There rests the statesman who, devoid of art. 
Gave soundest counsel from an upright heart, 
And, 01 Columbia, by thy sons caressed, 
Tliere rests the Father of the realms he blessed, 
Wlio no wish felt to make his mighty praise. 
Like other chiefs, the means liimselfto raise; 
But when retiring, breathed in pure renown. 
And felt a grandeur that disowned a crown." 



train's union speeches. 



29 



QUESTS. 

: Hon. Major An?on, M. P. ; Rt. TTon. Yis- 

'oount Bury, M. P.; Robert Baxter, Esq.; 

(■Lord Colville, of Ciilross; Hon. Lieu.-Colo- 

jinel Coke, M. P.; Colonel Dickson, M. P.; 
George Cruicksliank. K?q.; Hon. R. H. 

k)utton, M. P. ; S. C. Hall, Esq. ; Tom Mood, 
Esq.; Robt. Wrn. Kennard, Esq.. M. P.; 
Colerid.u:e Kennard, Esq. ; Matlievv Marshall, 
Es([.; Horace May hew, Esq.; Charles Makay, 
Es(i.. L.L. D. ; W. A. Makinnon, Esq.. M. 

; P. ; Z. Pearson, Esq., Mayor of Hull ; Sir F. 

jSlade, Bart., Q. C. ; Digby Seymour, Q. C, 
M. P. ; Geo. Augustus Sa'la. Esq. ; Colonel 
'i'aylor, M. P. ; Anthony TroUope, Esq. ; 
James White, Esq., M. P. 

The cloth having been drawn, 

The Chairman rose and said: My Lords 
and Gentlemen, deeply do I feel the honor 
yctit have done me by so promptly rospond- 
inii; to my call. A more distinguished party 
ol ijentlemen never graced the social board ; 
any person would have been honored by 
being invited to meet any one of the guests. 
Each one is a feature, an individuality, a 
representative man — chiefs of parties, chiefs 
of reviews — poets, painters, and bankers. 
(Hear, hear ) Some score of the cleverest 
men in England. (Hear and laughter.) Men 
of mark, men of action, who, I trust, will to- 
gether throw off the dignity of the House of 
Commons, forget the jealousies of literature, 
and make up their minds to enjoy them- 
selves by eschewing frigid formalities, and 
remembering that good nature makes glad 
the hearts of all. (Applause.) As this is 
a social gathering on a great national holi- 
day, and as I have been so fatigued with 
hearing my name associated with one of the 
modern ideas of progress, I ask as a particu- 
lar favor that no gentleman present will 
mention the subject of a Street Railway. 
(Laughter and cheers.) 1 am glad to have 
the opportunity of telling yon of a great 
change that has come over me lately. I 
was once under the impression that you were 
jealous of our progress, and would' like to 
break us up, and that Lord Palmerston de- 
lighted to slap us in tlie face when European 
politics got too hazy ; but I now see that I 
was wrong. America, I feel confident, 
(arising from temperament more than ill will,) 
would not have behaved as well as you have 
in case of political difficulties in England; 
although 'tis true that our flags were at h If- 
mast throuo;hout the land in honor of the 
great Havelock, (cheers.) and the country 
arose as one man to meet the noble Prince-^ 
the proud heir of the grandest Queen (cheers) 
the world has ever witnessed. (Applause.) 
And when the handsome Boy King stood 
uncovered at the grave of the chief whom 
we honor ourselves by rememberins: to-day, 
thehistory of past enmity only made stronger 
our future friendship. (Cheers.) I take 



back what I have ever said about England's 
jealousy; for your Queen, your Ministers, 
your Parliament, your Press, your People, 
have shown the true dignity of a great na- 
tion by a shower of heartfelt sympathy at the 
temporary troubles that make so misty the 
politics of the West. 'I'his meeting to- 
night proves the true feeling that prevails. 
One and all wish us well, and say heartily, 
let there be everlasting union among our 
States, (cheers,) so as to cement for ever the 
union of England and America. (Cheers.) 

A union of lakes, a union of land.s, 

A union of States none can .sever; 
A union of hearts, a union of hands, 

And tlie flatfs of our Union for ever and ever, 
The flags of our Union for ever. 

(Loud cheers.) 
Gentlemen, you see but three toasts upon 
the list, in order to allow the volunteers (for 
this night only,) to share honors with the 
regular army. (Laughter.) The London 
Press is not represented by their reporters, 
hut there's a chiel among you taking short- 
hand notes, and he will print them in a 
pamphlet, (laughter,) and, to make no mis- 
takes, tell no party secrets. I hope each 
speaker will revise what he has to say before 
he says it, (laughter;) and bear in mind no 
gentleman can leave the room without a 
speech, a song, or a sentiment. (Laughter 
and hear, hear.) But to the toasts. On the 
'22d February, 1732, a great man was born. 
His birthday has come round again, and 
English Lords and Commoners are reverenc- 
ing his name tonight. I give you, gentle- 
men. The British Subject of 1700; the 
British Soldier of 1770; The British Rebel 
of 1776 ; The American General of 1780; 
the American Statesman of 1783; the 
American President of 1792 ; the World's 
Patriot of 1799. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, the 
toast which, as is our custom, I ask you to 
ri.se and drink in silence is, George Washing- 
ton, the first President of the United States. 
The toast was drunk in silence. 

The Chairman : You wait eagerly to give 
a bumper to the ne.xt toast upon the list — 
and well you may. All lauds and every 
people know it and honor it. Even my 
iViend, George Cruickshank, should drink a 
bumper, though a cold water bumper it may 
be, to the first lady in the land — the happy 
Queen of England. (Applause.) Ameri- 
cans in England, or in America, or in dis- 
tant climes, no matter where the flag waves, 
are as fond of your queenly Queen as you 
are. So drink deep, gentlemen, to the ac- 
complished daughter — the faithful wife — 
the noble mother— the magnificent Queen. 
(Cheers.) We admire her for her great 
talents. We adore her for the good ex- 
ample she sets to the women of the world. 
We respect her for the dignity with which 
she presides over her people ; and we love 
hor — in America as well as you do in En- 
gland — we love her, because, — yes, gentle- 



30 



train's union speeches. 



men, becansc wf cannot help it. (Clicers.) 
The toast is, Victoria, tho Queen of all the 
British Kmpire. (Loiul cheers.) Gentle- 
men, that won't do — not loud enough — three 
more that ?hall make the welkin ring; for 
this is a toa.st that must not be shirked. 
(Continued cheers and applause.) 

The Chairman : I hurry on, Gentlemen, 
because I see how anxious you are for those 
l)rilliaiit speeches that are impatient to 
break uimn you. Those Armstrong guns, 
ready for instant action. (Hear and ap- 
plause ) I regret that the great hero of the 
Punjaub, the Saviour of India is not here — 
Sir John Lawrence — detained, I am sorry 
to say, by the illness of his child ; and here 
are other regrets which you will pass along 
the table, from names well known in the 
world of letters, and the path of fame. [Here 
the Chairman placed upon the table a folio 
of letters from various distinguished men, 
apologising for uon-attendauce : — ] 

Among which were letters from Lord El- 
lenborough; H. C. E. Childers, M. P.; 
Russell Sturgis, Esq. ; Capt, Mayue Reid ; 
Lord Bishop of Jamaica; Lord Shelburne ; 
Wm. Scholefield, Esq., M. P. ; Hon. A. 
Konnard ; Hon. Judge Haliburton, (Sam 
.'^lick ;) Townshend Mainwaring, Esq., M. P. ; 
W. H. (Jregory, Esq., M. P. 

"We noticed among others from Lord John 
Russell; W. Mackinnon, M. P.; T. Milner 
Gibson. M.P.; John Bright, M. P.; Hon. J. 
Yorke Scarlett; Thos. Baring, Esq., M. P.; 
John P. Kennard ; M.B.Sampson; Joshua 
Bates; John («. Elsey ; Don Jose de Sala- 
manca ; }>l. Alphonse de Lamartine ; JohnT. 
Delane ; William Hepworth Dixon; and 
other " men of mark." 

The Chairman continued, — 

But the wine of intellectual intoxication 
will now begin to flow, as you will be con- 
vinced the moment the elocjuent Lord Bury 
gets upon his feet. (Cheers.) The Presi- 
dent of the United States — not disunited 
yet. I give the toast just at this particular 
lime with great pleasure, as I consider the 
j)resent trouljle worth fifty millions sterling 
to the country, as it kills the absurd slave 
abolition mania, and gives the country an- 
other fifty years of prosperity, when we 
shall be ready to burst up again. (Hear and 
laughter.) While respecting the past, I 
prefer the coming man — only two weeks of 
the toa.st belong.s to Buchanan — all the rest 
is for the rale President. 'J'he handsome 
Mr, Lincoln — (hear, and loud laughter) — 
who will maintain rc.'^nect by compelling 
deference to the Federal forces — a President 
who will 

" ImprT't n|iiin otir youlli a horror of hln crlmo, 

Who iliiroH lo touch a prop of thin, our cdillco Kuhlime. 
Whll<' ••.Tn«i Imw furtiuuN Btrlvo to proacli DiHUuioa 

lhr<Mi|{h our land, 
Tpon the ConatllotloD rock let patriotN lako thoir 
■tand. 



On tliat sure refuge from tho storm we safely may 

rely; 
And with the Union let us live, or for the Union die.' 

The Chairman : The orchestra has done 
its duty, the curtain rises, and the play com- 
mences. Remember the standing order — a 
song, a sentiment, or a speech, from every 
magnate present. (Hear, hear.) A flow of 
music and a feast of soul, as the poet puts 
it. (Laughter.) Some time ago, 1 made a 
voyage across the ocean with a gentleman t 
that astounded all on board by his wonder- 
ful talents. Whether in writing leaders for 
the " Asiatic Lottery," the name of the 
journal which his fair and accomplished 
wife edited on board, reciting English verses, 
or singing French songs, battling with me 
on the slave question, or discussing the 
growth of cotton in hidia, this young mem- 
ber of the House of Commons made a mark 
in that voyage that will be lasting. I know 
you want to see him up, and you shall, for I 
ask his Lordship, Viscount Bury, to stand 
to the guns and start the eloquence that only 
waits the bidding. (Loud cheers.) 

Viscount Bury : Sir, I took the liberty of 
making an observation to my friend on the 
right, a short time ago, that it was a most 
extraordinary fact that we were a very si- 
lent company, but that we should be all 
roaring with laughter in less than five 
minutes. We are roaring now, but I hope 
we shall roar still louder. If anybody in 
the world can make every one enjoy himself, 
it is the great apostle of spread-eagle-ism at 
the head of the table. You must have ob- 
served before now, that the gentleman at 
the head of the table is pre-eminently dis- 
tinguished for one particular quality, and 
that is, his pre-eminent modesty. (Loud 
laughter.) That is the quality by which he 
has made his way through the world in the 
extraordinary manner that he has done. I 
believe he was born in New Orleans. His 
restless spirit led him, before he was a year 
old, to Boston. He became too big for 
Boston before he was fourteen. He became 
too big for Australia, where he went to from 
Boston, before he was twenty-one. He 
afterwards revolutionized China, and opened 
the way for our commerce there. He then 
introduced a few improvements into Call 
fornia, and now he is going to revolutionize 
this country; and he is going to do it 
through the medium of a machinery which 
he has forbidden us to allude to, and which, 
therefore, I must not speak about. I have 
heard a great deal lately about " the great 
social evil," and I have been told the social 
evil is street-walking. It follows that street 
riding is the great social good, and this 
Mr. 'i'rain is going to introduce. I have 
now, sir, nearly completed the five minutes 
which is the time I am limited to by the 
bill. As you have done me the honor of 
drinking my health, I beg to propose that 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



31 



of our entertainer, Mr. Train. (Loud and 
continued cheers.) 

Mr. Chairman : I would sujrprost that each 
gentleman who gets on his feet, sl)ould, be- 
fore he sit down, call out such gentleman as 
he chooses, and in that way the Ixtll will be 
kept continually moving. (Laughter.) (Gen- 
tlemen, Lord Bury has alluded to something 
which probably you may have noticed before 
— it is the peculiar characteristic of our 
people. If there is anything we are pre- 
eminently noted for, it is our national mod- 
esty — (loud laughter) — and I should have 
been in extreme difficulty to-nit;ht, with this 
unassuming disposition — (continued laugh- 
ter) — but that I feel, as I stand before you, 
that I throw myself on the generosity of the 
twenty-two to twenty-five-inch heads of the 
many intellectual gentlemen round this ta- 
ble. (Gentlemen, I will say nothing of mj-self, 
except that if any State leaves the confed- 
eration, I would rather come back to this old 
land and country, and buy about six feet by 
four of real estate to lay my bones in. 
(Hear, hear.) We are not going to break 
up these States; but should any one of 
them leave the American Union, in less than 
twenty-four hours I will become an English 
subject. 

Viscount Bury : And I will naturalize you 
with all the honors. 

The Chairman : Mind, I say, if even one 
State leaves the American Union, I cease 
to be an American. The Union was the 
acorn, the Constitution the flower-pot in 
which it was planted, in the days of Wash- 
ington, who wonders that the startling 
growth of the nation has burst its enclosure, 
and loudly calls for more room and wider 
law. 'I'he constitution must be revised and 
adapted to all the laud. Disunion, gentle- 



men, is impossible. (Loud cheers.) I like 
the people of this country; I like Old Eng- 
land. You have got the start of us now ; 
we were neck and neck before, and it will 
take us a little time to catch up; but one 
of these days we will be again under full 
steam. Yes, dear Old England, wherever 
she may go, will stand pre-eminent among 
the nations. I thank you, gentlemen, for 
your kind words, and I propose, as a senti- 
ment, " The liawyers of England," and I 
call on my friend, Mr. Baxter, (Loud 
cheers.) 

Which was followed by eloquent speeches 
from the following gentlemen — (vide short- 
hand report in London American) : — Dr. 
Mackay; Mr. Geo. Cruickshank ; Mr. Geo. 
Augustus Hala ; Mr. White, M. P. for 
Brighton ; Mr. Digby Seymour, Q. C, M. P.; 
Col. Taylor, M. P. ; Sir Frederick Slade, 
Bart., Q. C. ; Mr. Wyld, M. P. ; Lord Cal- 
ville, ofCalross; Hon. Major Anson, M. P., 
(Aid-de-camp to Sir Hope Grant); Mr. Tom 
Hood ; Hon. Lieut. Col. Coke, M. P. ; Mr. 
Pearson, (Mayor of Hull) ; Mr. Horace May- 
hew ; Mr. Robert W. Kennard, M. P. ; 
Mr. S. C. Hall ; Hon. Ralph H. Dalton, 
M. P. ; Mr. Coleridge Kennard, (Banker) ; 
Colonel Dickson ; Mr. Francis Fuller ; and 
others. 

During the evening, a letter was received 
and read from W. Mackinnon, Esq., M. P., 
author of " History of Civilization." 

The party did not separate till after one 
o'clock ; and it was unanimously admitted 
to have been one of the most agreeable 
evenings ever passed in London — fraught 
with happy incidents and a genial flow of 
soul, which will long live in the heart of 
every individual present. 



YOUNG AMERICA ON THE '' AMERICAN CRISIS." 



[From the London American of May 1, 1861.] 



At the ituiuguration dinner of the London 
and Provincial Discount Company, April 
27, at the London Tavern, the Chairman, 
(the Sheriff of London.) in most friendly 
terms gave as a toast " Our Transatlantic 
Brethren," associating therewith the name 
of Mr. George Francis Train. 

The toast, having been received with vo- 
ciferous cheering — 

Mr. Train, on rising, said — There was no 

mistake about your being in earnest ; and I 
may tell you that I am not surprised at your 
cheers, for Englishmen ever meet Americans 
thus — (cheers) — and I am glad to say that 
Americans in America never lose the oppor- 



tunity of showing love for England when an 
Englishman is their guest. (Applause.) Let 
us ever join hands thus, and always wish 
each other well. (Elear and cheers ) Your 
Chairman asks me for an opinion on the 
crisis, but if I give it you must prepare for 
warm and earnest words. I believe that a 
gigantic hoax has been sent us from over 
the way — I do not believe that Fort Sum- 
ter has been taken. (Loud cheers.) Sift 
the despatch — see how absurd are its sen- 
tences. Forty hours' bombardment — sol- 
diers fighting like devils, and no one killed 
or wounded — (hear and laughter) — not a 
man reported to have lost a feather. — 
(Laughter.) Again, the fort is said to be 



82 



train's union speeches. 



on fire, when it is made of sulitl Now Eng- 
land granite, and has not wood enough to 
make a decent fire. (Ili-ar, hear,) Then, 
Muior Anderson is outside on a raft with 
buckets of water to throw in. Now, as the 
walls are some sixty feet high, and the top 
is arched with stone, that would be difficult 
— (laugliter) — and just imagine five thou- 
sand ladies sitting on the house-tops at mid- 
night to see a gallant Major throw water — 
f roars of laughter) — throw water into the 
breaches. — (Loud cheers and laughter.) — 
Again, after this terrific fight, he quietly 
sits down to dine with the traitor, General 
Beauregard. You see, gentlemen, how ab- 
surd the story. Besides, an American offi- 
cer would be hacked to pieces, inch by inch, 
before he would surrender to a traitor. — 
(Cheers.) An American garrison would not 
raise the white flag though starved into can- 
nibalism. (Loud cheers.) If Major Ander- 
Fon gave up the fort, he did it by order of 
the Govornment, or else he is in league with 
the Southern traitors, and like them ought 
to be hung or shot. (Flear, hear.) You 
are much more likely to hear of the burning 
of Charleston by the Northern fleet than a 
march on "Washington. Europe may well 
look astonished at this monstrous conspi- 
racy, where cabinet ministers blindfolded 
the President — sent off the war fleet to the 
uttermost parts of the world — changed the 
admirals, and placed the army officers where 
they could serve their nefarious designs. 
'Tis shameful to call these damnable trai- 
tors by the soft name of disunionists ; they 
ought to be stigmatized as parricides and 
murderers. (Cheers.) I hail the civil war 
as a hai)i)y omen, and I hope tliat to-mor- 
row's steamer will bring advices that one 
thousand traitors have been shot, two thou- 
sand traitors have been hung, and three 
thousand traitors have been crippled — (loud 
cheers) — yes, maimed for life. (Loud ap- 
plause.) At last we have a President, a 
Cabinet, a policy, and foreign representa- 
tives. Such men as Seward, Blair, Came- 
ron, and such will as Lincoln has, will shortly 
prove the majesty of our Union government. 
Two hours after Lincoln was in the White 
llouse, I believe that orders went over the 
world to send back the frigates, and you will 
see our men-of-war shortly popping at every 
southern fort — (hear, hear) — a dozen fri- 
pateH and transportH are already in the 
Gulf — and soon the flying artillery will be 
sweeping over the jilains of 'J'exas, and the 
l)rave General Houston, at the head of his 
Hangers, will show Richard to be himself 
again. (Hear, and cheers.) Lincoln will 
make th(! South conrpier itself When the 
reign of terror subsides, the L'nion men will 
spring up in the seci-ding Stales, and pro- 
perty will speak — for property is always 
conservative ; and when the people rise on 
the wicked men who have misled them, you 



will see how quickly the Robespierres, Ma- 
rats, Dantons, and Mirabeaus — 1 beg pardon 
of those good men for the comparison — 
(laughter) — will be swept ofl" like the filth 
of a great city by the wash of the sea. — 
(Cheers.) The Union party is speaking, 
and when the great North condescends to 
act, there will be energy in the land. For 
fifty years we have permitted the South to 
govern us, but the unfaithful steward is dis- 
charged, and twenty millions will no longer 
be dictated to by six millions. The North 
is rich, active, honest, industrious. The 
South is feeble, as you will soon see. Land- 
seer's celebrated picture shows exactly the 
state of affairs. I allude to that painting 
of " Dignity and Impudence." (Loud cheers.) 
I have three little children, and were they 
to-morrow to enter my library, one with 
bugle, one with drum, and the other with 
his little musket, to attack me in my strong- 
hold, I assure you I should not fear the re- 
sult. (Cheers and laughter.) In this case 
I represent the North — (cheers) — and hate 
treason so much that could I bring a cannon 
with slugs and grape to bear on the South- 
ern Congress, when all the foul traitors of 
the league were present, I should be de- 
lighted to touch match and blow them into 
the world where they hang traitors' heads 
upon the gates. (Cheers.) I believe that, 
ere many months, that blackhearted traitor 
Jefferson Davis, will be publicly shot, pri- 
vately hung, or a fugitive from justice in 
this country. (Hear, hear.) You alluded 
to the tariff — that question you do not un- 
derstand. Our entire revenue from customs 
is but twelve million pounds ; yours is 
twenty-six million pounds — who, then, exer- 
cises the most free trade ? Your idea of 
reciprocity is, take all your goods free of 
duty, and give you our cotton for nothing. 
(Hear, and laughter.) Your Exeter Hall 
sympathy for the negro died when you felt 
the cotton was in danger. You charge five 
million pounds duty on our tobacco, and yet 
talk of fri>e trade ! There are so many re- 
presentatives of the press present, I wish — 
but am 1 not speaking too long ? (No, no, 
go on !) I say here is an idea for a leader ! 
Let England and France speak on this c[ues- 
tion — sj)eak out, and not wait results. Let 
their ministers at Washington say to the 
Southern President, we will give you no 
sympathy, expect nothing from us. Al- 
though we love cotton as our lives — (loud 
laughter) — we will never acknowledge a re- 
])ublic based solely on the oligarchy of negro 
slaves. (Loud cheers.) Make the best 
terms you can with the North, but expect 
no word of admiration from us. Gentle- 
men, 1 thank you again, and assure you, as 
1 sit down, that our country will be stronger 
than ever. But what will you do with the 
I^outh ? Why, gentlemen, what do you do 
when you get a rat in a hole ? — (laughter) — 



TRAINS UNION SPEECHES. 



33 



•why, stop up tliG bun<;liole, of course. — 
(Laugliter.) I have spoken manly, because 
I love my native land — my native hearth- 
stone — iny native country. Much as I may 
love Kn<[lau(l I love America more — so 
much so, my disposition leads me to go 
uway from you — (No, no)' — to leave the 
great idea I have taken up of introducing a 
carriage for the people. I say leads me to 
go home — (No, no) — and ofi'er my services 
to tlic President, little tlioui^h they may 
serve him ; and 1 know I express the senti- 



ments of every true Union man. (Cheers.) 
The real fact is, the tliieves of the late caoi- 
net and of the late party set the house on 
fire in order to cover up their atrocious bur- 
glaries ; but terrible will be the vengeance 
bye and bye. Your pardon once more, and 
my thanks. Don't judge hastily; don't 
judge by reading Russell's hotter to the 
Times. He is obliged to take the Southern 
view, or he would be tarred and feathered 
before he got within sight of Charleston. 
1 (Laughter and loud cheers.) 



SUCCESS OF AGHICULTURE AND COMMERCE. 

\From the London American of May 6, 1861.] 



The Exeter and the Plymouth papers give 
glowing descriptions of the formal opening 
of the Exmouth Railway, on Wednesday 
last, May 1st, 18G1. by a grand festival. We 
copy from the Western Times the speech of 
Mr. Ceo. F. Train, who was the guest of the 
Hon. Ralph Duttou and the Directors of the 
London and South Western Railway. 

]\lr. Train (the celebrated originator of 
street railways), having been called upon, 
rose and said : Mr. Chairman and Gentle- 
men, — At the close of one of your many able 
speeches this day you said England expects 
every man to do his duty, and I may also 
add so does America. (Cheers.) If an Eng- 
lish gentleman calls on an American, at his 
social board, he will arise, I can assure you, 
in military order, even if he has nothing to 
say. (Cheers and laughter.) Gentlemen, 
you have given me a toast to i)ropose — 
"Success to Agriculture and Commerce." 
I am very giiad to have the honor of propos- 
ing such a toast, and I feel especially honored 
by your putting my name forward to propose 
so important a sentiment. As far as 1 am 
concerned I have never done anything for 
agriculture, although I was brought up on a 
farm. (Laughter.) But, so far as commerce 
is concerned, 1 have been a merchant in all 
the great Saxon capitals — firstly, I was at 
the head of a house in Liverpool, ten years 
ago, with a dozen clerks under me ; secondly, 
1 had charge of a great shipping house in 
Boston, with two dozen clerks to look after 
(applause) ; and, lastly, I raised the flag in 
Melbourne, Australia, with some three dozen 
iu my staff. (Loud cheers.) More than a 
hundred thousand tons of shipping were con- 
signed to my house in two years, and what 
is better — although I did not return any 
great dividend on many of the consignments 
that were sent to me — (laughter) — I man- 
aged to make my commissions amount to 
some XIQ.OOO in fourteen months. (Cheers.) 

3 



Melbourne, you see, sir, after all, is not '-the 
bourne " from whence no traveller returns 1 
(Laughter and cheers.) I am very glad to 
have this toast of agriculture to ])ropose. 
because it has given me the opportunity of 
visiting the beautiful jiart of Devon, of 
seeing this beautiful country and its beauti- 
ful scenery, those beautiful headlands, this 
beautiful river, and Captain Mangles might 
have added, your beautiful women also. 
(Cheers and laughter.) I have often heard 
of this picturesque part of England; I never 
was so astonished in my life, as when I came 
to this country to find you so great in every 
thing agricultural. (Cheers.) It looked to 
me like a gigantic garden, of all kinds of 
fruits and fiowers. (Cheers.) And, as far 
as commerce is concerned, you have only to 
go down the shore here, some fifty miles or 
more, and see where the commerce of this 
country was born, at the time when you 
despatched the Mayflower — (loud cheers) — 
that established, on the other side of the 
ocean, the nation which has almost outgroAvn 
its robust constitution. (Loud cheers.) You 
have only, 1 say, to go back to that little 
vessel of a hundred tons, or more, and trace 
commerce in its wonderful progress, from 
that little one-decked boat to the gigantic 
steamer that is, on this day, and perhaps at 
this hour, leaving Milford Haven to sail o'er 
the same race-course — (loud cheers) — to the 
other side of the world. (Applause.) The 
growth of these two vessels is certainly em- 
blematic of the rapid strides in prosperity 
of commerce. (Cheers.) That shows what 
the commerce of England is, and we know 
well what its agriculture is. (Hear, hear.) 
I am only very sorry that you are oi)liged, 
every year, to import a hundred million 
bushels of corn to keep your people from 
starving. (Laughter and cheers, and Oh, oh.) 
It is a fact that you import a hundred million 
bushels of corn 'yearly. I am very glad we 



34 



train's union speeches. 



have pot it for you when you want it. 
(Clicors.) And I can only tell you that we 
are as willing to sell it to you, as we were 
willing to jrive it away. (Cheers and laugh- 
ter, and eries of "Oh, oh.") You say '• oh, 
oh," gentlemen, but 1 only ask you to go back 
a few years in your history, at a time when 
large quantities of your i)eople were suffer- 
ing — when grim Death was staring hundreds 
of thousands in the face in the Sister Isle, 
and subscriptions were taken in every State 
in the country — when we filled our ships of 
war with corn, and our war captains and war 
mates came over with it — then it was that 
we sent over something of our agriculture, 
with the good will of our peojjlc with it, to 
Cork and to Dulilin, at the time of the Irish 
famine— (loud cheers) — and proved as we did 
on the recent reception of the son of your 
noble ()ueen— (loud cheers) — that Ameri- 
cans have heads to think, and hearts to feel 
when a kindred people are suffering. These 
arc the things that bind us together — 
(cheers) — and I am convinced by the way 
you welcome me that you wish us well over 
the great gulf that gaps between the two 
sections of our land. (Loud cheers.) I see 
by your allusions that you wish me to touch 
upon the delicate ((uestion that agitates us. 
(Loud cheers.) The Mayor of Exeter allud- 
ed to the happy and perfect union of Exeter 
withExmouth. 1 am glad that there are no 
disunionists, thank God, in this country. 
(Cheers.) 1 assure you I believe in the 
eternal union of our States. (Hear, hear.) 
"We are having a little bit of trouble over the 
water just now, but it arises from accident. 
(Laughter.) We have an enormous surplus 
population. You get rid of your population 
by getting up a little war just when you 
want it. (" Oh, oh," and laughter.) As we 
are not a filibustering people — (much laugh- 
ter) — 1 say, gentlemen, as we never have a 
war, it was necessary for us to invent some- 
thing in order to get rid of the great surplus 
population of the country. (Laughter.) We 
invented railways and Mississi|)i)i steam 
boats; and we supposed that, by judicious 
management, these high-pressure inventions 
might get rid of some of them. Iml 1 tell you 
that the inventiou has proved a gigantic 
failure. (Laughter.) It is a notorious fact, 
that we have not had so many accidents in 
twenty years, on our railways, as you have 
had during the past twelve months. (Laugh- 
ter, and cries of " Oh, oh !") War has at last 
come upon us, and already it has become a 
standing joke in the country — that we have 
invented a new kind of war, fighting without 
killing anybody — furty hours of bombard- 
ment and no bloodshed. (Hear and ap- 
jilause.) You will by-and-liy jierhaps know 
wliy. For fifty years thi; Nortli was too busy 
in making factories, launching ships, plant- 
ing corn, and educating her children — 
(cheers.) — to find time to govern the land. 



Besides the Northerners could not afford to 
accept salaries and wear epaulettes, well 
knowing that a certainty in life was paraly- 
sis to ambition. (Hear and "True !") There- 
fore we let the South furnish our army offi- 
cers, our navy officers, our foreign consuls 
and ministers, and for half a century all our 
Presidents. (Hear.) We treated them like 
spoilt children and gave way to their un- 
manly complaints, till at last we found that 
the ship of State was allowed to go to ruin, 
that the timbers were rotting, that the crew 
had robbed the cash-box and stolen the 
cabin furniture — (loud laughter and ap- 
plause) — and that the captain was a pirate 
and the mates were thieves. (Lound cheers.) 
We found that the Democratic party had 
sold itself to the South, and demoralized the 
country, and then the North spoke, and 
Lincoln is now the General Jackson of our 
time. (Hear.) Gentlemen of England, let 
me assure you that cotton is no longer king 
— (laughter and hear) — in fact it never was, 
is not now, and never will be king. (Hear.) 
We grow in the North a product that cattle 
feed and sleep upon, larger than all the 
boasted cotton of the South — I mean the 
hay crop of the free States. (Hear, hear.) 
It was of greater value last year than all the 
cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice grown in all 
the Slave States in 1860! (Loud cheers.) 
The corn crop also of the North last year 
was valued at £100,000,000 ; the cotton crop 
was not half that. (Applause.) As I am 
speaking to the toast of agriculture — (cheers 
and hear, hear) — let me tell you that while 
the cotton crop of the last census was but 
£28,000,000 the total agricultural products 
of the country were £.540,000,000 1 and, so 
far as wealth gives value to a State — little 
Massachusetts — my own fair State — that has 
always been first in peace, as she has ever 
been, and will ever be, in war — (cheers) — is 
rated in that census as worth £25,000,000 
more than all Virginia, including all her 
negroes and the large sum that her traitor 
son, she loves so well — Floyd — stole from 
the Government cofl'ers. (Laughter and 
cheers.) The State of New York alone has 
more wealth than all the seceding States 
together. (Hear.) The contest will be 
short, sharp, and surprising. The South is 
without mechanics. Their present munitions 
of war were stolen from our arsenals. Take 
these from them, and what can they do. 
They cannot clothe their soldiers, nor grow 
their food — no gold in their banks — no corn 
in their granaries — and only two millions in 
the Southern I'irate Confederation, against 
the twenty millions of patriots of the Union 
Club. (Cheers.) The North comnuinds the 
sea and the Mississippi; the Federal Gov- 
ernment has the fleet, while the South has 
5,000 miles of unguarded coast and not a 
man-of-war. Secession is repudiation — a new 
way of paying old debts. Capitalists lending 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



35 



money to the insolvent firm of tho Seven 
Pirate States should not forjjet that two of 
the senior partners were Florida and Missis- 
sippi, while the captain of the pirate gang 
was the chief apostle of repudiation. (CMieers 
and applause.) Despotism and anarchy are 
twins. Revolvers and bowie knives, assassi- 
nation and Lynch law were capital raw 
materials to manufacture into rebels, parri- 
cides, and traitors. (Applause and hear.) 
But these words arc too weak to do justice 
to the subject. These bad men are as much 
worse than common murderers as the man 
that stabs his own wife, strangles his own 
sister, murders his own father and mother, 
and destroys his own children, is more vile 
than the man who only wars against the 
stranger ! (Loud cheers.) But wait a little 
longer — there is a good time coming. Let 
the coliorts and the legions of the North 
pour down upon the conspirators, and they 
will scatter like polecats before a prairie 
fire! (Laughter and applause.) These bad 
men will be ground up like corn between 
two rhillstones ! I have just received from 
a fair lady of Philadelphia these Union lines, 
which speak the sentiments of every true 
lover of our nationality. — 

TO BE SUNO TO THE TUNB OF "HAIL, COLU.MBIA ! " 

Columbia's sons ! arouse, awake, 
Your noble staud for Union talie, 
Tlie proud usurper we'll tread down, 
The proud usurper we'll tread down. 
The American Flag, it still shall wave — 
Its stars and stripes we'll die to save ; 
With hearts sincere, iu Heaven our trust. 
We'll li^y the traitors in the dust. — (Cheers.) 
To Southern blood we'll not submit, 
Our motto's, "Don't give up tho ship." 
Chorus. — Swell the anthem, loud and high, 

For Union, Peace, and Liberty, 

Still united evermore, 

Our Flag shall wave, our Eagle soar! 

(Hear and Applause.) 

Though Southern brethren rise and boast, 
They'll all divide ; whate'er it cost, 
We will iheir jealous rage subdue, 
We will their jealous rage subdue, 
Convincing first, that Law is King, 
Proud Cotton to our feet we'll bring. — (Cheers.) 
Storm clouds may now obscure the sun, 
Fear not the tempest — we'll o'ercome ; 
Our loyal crews will ride the wave ; 
Secession sink ! the Union save ! 
Chorus. — Swell the anthem, loud and high, 

For Union, Peace, and Liberty, 
I Still united evermore. 

Our Flag shall wave, our Eagle soar ! 

^G^eat cheering.) 

AVell, now, I return and propose success 
to the agriculture and commerce of this 
country. I can only tell you that, although 
I may not have, to the same extent, the pe- 
culiar characteristic of Mr. Hutchings and 
your honorable chairman — namely, diffi- 
deuce — Haughter) — still you know that it is 
the peculiar attribute of our people ; and if 
'we arc so bashful in society — (laughter) — 
and if we do not get along faster in the 
■world you will, perhaps, attribute it to that 
reason. (Roars of laughter.) Gentlemen, 
I am proud to be here to-day to see your 



beautiful town of Exmouth. I sec that you 
have built your houses on the sand, l)ut you 
have founded your church on a Rocke. (A 
happy allusion to the name of the vicar of 
the parish, which was received with louu 
cheers and laughter.) Our eloquent chair- 
man alluded to those gentlemen who had 
done so much for the commerce of the 
country in connecting Exeter and Exmouth. 
He alluded to that gentleman who received 
a piece of plate to-day, and but for whom 
you would not have increased your com- 
merce by a railway for many years, and but 
for whom you would not have had any 
trains running for a longtime. (Hear, hear.) 
I can only say, that had it not been for the 
kind invitation of my friend, Mr. Dutton, I 
should not have seen this delightful day, and 
there would have been one Train the less to 
say the least of it. (Laughter.) Gentle- 
men, I am glad that it is as it is. I know 
that you will keep me to the question, that 
is strictly Parliamentary — (laughter) — but I 
can only say, that I am delighted at being 
here, for nothing adds so much to the com- 
merce of a place as building a railway. 
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I believe there is 
nothing like locomotion, ami if I may judge 
from the enormous number of young Eng- 
land representatives I saw to-day in the 
place, there is no question about the com- 
merce of Exmouth — (loud cheers and 
laughter) — and from the many volunteers in 
this country. I should say again, there w; s 
nothing like locomotion. (Hear, hear). We 
have got volunteers too on the other side of 
the water. (Cheers.) The Union State of 
Penn.sylvania lately said — Mr. President, 
we can raise you a hundred thousand volun- 
teers in forty-eight hours, and land them, by 
the commerce of the railway, in the capital. 
(Cheers). And so I can say with you : — 

" Hurrah for our Riflemen ! men of the land — 
Who have sprung from a true-hearted yearning, 

Not willing, or eager, to kindle war's brand, 
But to guard wliat that brand has set burning." 

These are the guardians of the soil, and 
week after week you will see them pouring 
into the President. (Cheers.) 

" Let them come from the loom, and the plough, and 
tho forge. 

Let their bugles ring louder and louder. 
Let the dark city lane, and the deep valley gorge, 

Prove that labour makes valour the strouger.-(Cheer8.) 

Let them live in sweet peace, till a moment arrives, 

When the shot of an enemy rattle. 
And the spirits that dwell the most fondly at home. 

Shall be first to rush forth into battle. 

(Protracted cheering). I thank you, 
Gentlemen, for giving me this toast, I wish 
well to your beautiful watering place — and 
when you call upon me for a street railway 
— (cheers) — perhaps that too will be forth- 
coming Those two Crimean guns on the 
beach point towards France — (loud cheers) 
— but agriculture and commerce bring 
happier results than war — but sometimes 



36 



train's union speeches. 



war is a virtue. (Iletir). Give yonr time to 
the cultiviition of the soil and the building 
of your ships, and you will find — 

That Britannia needs no bulwarks, 
Ko tuwers along the steep, 



Her march is o'er the mountain wave, 
Her home is on the deep. 

The whole company started to their feet 
on the conclusion of Mr. Train's speech, and 
cheered him to the echo. 



MR. TRAIN^S SPEECH AT ISLINGTON. 

[From the London American of May 25, 1861.] 



The mafrnificent hall recently erected at 
Hi<rlil)ury Uarn was built by the enterprising 
proprietor, Scnore Giovaneli, in seven weeks, 
and is one of the finest rooms of the kind in 
London. 

Some four or five hundred guests sat down 
to the grand inaugural banquet which we 
alluded to in our last, comprising editors, 
vestrymen, and residents of Islington. Mr. 
M'Evoy, M. P., who was to take the chair, 
wrote a note at the last moment that he was 
detained on the question of Irish Education 
in the House of Commons, and some of the 
gentlemen connected with the Islington 
Vestry, who had given Mr. Train permis- 
sion to introduce his street railways in the 
parish, immediately proposed that Mr. Train 
should take the chair. The audience insisted, 
and the t)anquet was prolonged till mid- 
night — a banquet of English, Irish, and 
Scotch, with an American Chairman. 

The following eloquent remarks were 
made by Mr. Train in response to the toast — 
'• Tlfc Chairman." 

'I'he frequent allusions to American affixirs 
to-night 1 presume have been made because 
my nationality is known, and you wish an 
American's opinion of American affairs. 
(Hear, liear.^ But if I touch upon them you 
will not pernaps object to my language, my 
earnest way of calling plain things by their 
])lain names. (No.) A\'ill you let me speak 
what I think? (Yes.) Will you let me 
give you the actual sentiments of a man who 
love.s his country only second to his God? 
(Apjilausc.) Then you shall have it, and 
that is expressed in j)ointed words under the 
flag on the outside of every Northern enve- 
lope — Death to Traitors. (Hear, hear.) 
You love England, so do I America; you 
rejoice to see the Cliartist demonstration 
crushed in its infancy. (Hear, hear.) You 
erect monuments to the heroes who stami)ed 
out the Indian rebellion; and you shot down 
those on the Jiallarat, when 1 was in Austra- 
lia, when they broke the law of the nation. 
(Hear, hear.) How, then can you sym])a- 
tliise with those blackiiearted knaves who 
woulil ruin a laud blessed by (io«l with natu- 
ral and national attributes grander than any 
known to nuin I Having been in England 
Irom the comuiencemeut of the insurrection, 



I have earnestly watched the opinion of the 
people. First there seemed general lament 
about what they termed fratricidal war — • 
(hear, hear) — but on second thought the 
sympathy appeared to be like that of a suc- 
cessful merchant over the failure of his rival 
on the other side of the street. (Cheers 
and hear.) The next phase was a universal 
howl at the Morrill (all pronounced it highly 
immoral) Tariff. (Laughter.) The pocket 
was in a spasm ; and trade knows little I 
sympathy. You forgot your half a century ' 
of Wilberforcianism, and patted the South I 
cotton and slavery on the back — the Times j 
leading off and encouraging the traitors. 
Then the South clapped an export duty on 
cotton. Again the tide ebbed, and the 
South was proved barbarian by the pirate 
chief, who disgusted everybody with his pri- 
vateering proclamation, (Shame,) Then 
Lord John Russell declared war against the 
North (no, no) by acknowledging that the 
Southerners were belligerent, and did us — 
most humiliating to our pride — the distin- 
guished honor — quoting Canning in 182.5 — 
of comparing us with the beggarly Turks. 
(Laughter.) Lord Falmerston lost no time 
in correcting the bad impression of the 
Foreign Secretary, and the Queen's Procla- 
mation now comes most opportunely. (Hear, 
hear.) When a man has corns on his feet 
he is most irritable when his neighbor goes 
out of his way to tread upon them : so if 
England really wishes to unite the two parts, 
let her overhaul an American ship. (Hear,) 
'I'hc last speaker, Mr. Lawrence, was cheered 
when he hoped that the next mail would 
bring peace. (Hear.) We are not quite 
ready to shake hands — our feelings at the 
North have been too long outraged. We 
don't believe there is any fight in the South. 
The Southern chivalry will collapse 
into exile like an ever-inflated balloon — 
(laughter) — and instead of peace I hope the 
next news will bring submission to the 
Federal Power, or that the hordes of the 
l)irates are burnt to the ground. (No, and 
loud cheers.) Never was known before 
such an outburst of nationality. The Her- 
mit Peter and his crusaders, and the rising 
of the Girondists, so eloquently described 
by Lamartiue, to whom I had the honor last 



TRAINS UNION SPEECHES. 



37 



year of introducinf]^ Senator Seward, onr 
present onertretic Premier, were nothing? in 
comparison to the outburst of enthusiasm 
from the insulted North, who will pour down 
upon tlie pirate bands and traitor j?ang:s and 
sweep them off like turning the waters of the 
Mississippi into the drains of New Orleans 
and purify the city, by cleansing the accu- 
mulated political stench of the party lately 
in ollice. (Hear.) Hull on the Lakes and 
Arnold on the Hudson, were true men com- 
pared to Stephens. Colt, Floyd, and their 
brother traitors, and Aaron Burr was a 
patriot alongside of the traitor leader Davis. 
(Applause.) We have a Government at 
last — only eight weeks in office— yet 50,000 
soldiers at Washington — Fort Pickens forti- 
fied — several regiments landed at Texas, 
and 20,000 volunteers at Cairo to stop every 
barrel of pork brought down the Ohio, and 
every l)ag of corn down the Mississippi. 
(Cheers.) Riflemen in Fort Monroe, rifle- 
men at Annapolis. Fifty steam transports 
and 200,000 men blockading every Southern 
port — (loud applause) — and all in a fort- 
night. Does that look like a weak Govern- 
ment ? Does that give you an idea of a 
dying nation? No. Gentlemen, we have 
at last turned our ploughshares into weapons 
of defence, and the traitors, when they find 
cannon to the right of them — cannon to the 
left of them, cannon behind them, thunder- 
ing the death-song of parricides, will cower 
into obscurity at the mere sight of their own 
blood. (Hear, and applause.) The Cabinet 
is a unit. The new Ministers to foreign 
lands are arriving; last night the Ambassa- 
dor to England, now in London ; the son of 
one President — the grandson of another — 
himself the candidate for Vice-President — 
Charles Francis Adams — (cheers) — of Mas- 
sachusetts, will represent America like a 
gentleman and a statesman. A man of 
talent, a man of wealth, Mr. Adams will 
soon show your Ministry the good feeling 
that the United States (not disunited yet) — 
(hear, and cheers) — bears towards the land 
that gave them birth. Our American Min- 
isters have been living in attics and back 
parlors ever since Massachussetts' favorite 
son — Abbott Lawrance — returned so well 
the hospitality showered upon him ; and now 
we have another representative who will 
prove himself worthy of the State'who at a 
few hours' notice sent those regiments who 
hewed their way over the dead bodies of the 
traitors at Baltimore to the protection of the 
Capitol. (Loud cheers.) The battle of 
Baltimore in the second Revolution was 
only another edition of the battle of Lex- 
ington on the anniversary of the first Revo- 
lution. (Loud cheers.) We have at last 
succeeded in sending abroad men of brains 
and position — Ambassadors, Consuls, and 
Secretaries — who are devoted to the Union — 



Dayton at Paris has arrived in time to dis- 
place tho Minister who I am told, presented 
the traitor Commissioners to the Emperor, 
and Clay at St. Pelerslturg. are entire men, 
and all the appointments are creditable to 
the nation. I know you will pardon me for 
not speaking of the street railways ; you get 
enough of them in the papers. I can only 
say that the opposition is as much exagge- 
rated as my energies are overrated. (" No," 
and cheers.) All inventions are opposed, 
moral, mechanical, or political. I believe if 
some i)hilosopher should discover a shorter 
cut over a level road to a happier world, 
there are many theological fossils who will 
prove that it is not only destructive of pro- 
perty and dangerous to life, but highly detri- 
mental to the best interests of the Church. 
(Laughter and oh.) I had rather talk about 
America than street railways. Don't forget 
what I have told you about the issue of the 
contest — America must drop the compari- 
son. It is no longer North and South, it is 
order against anarchy — patriots against par- 
ricides — Unionists against traitors. (Cheers.) 
They must submit or be exterminated. The 
Times, of 8th May, discussing the debate on 
acknowledging the independence of the 
Ionian Islands, says : — "When the lonians 
have compelled several British armies to 
capitulate, starved out or burnt out several 
garrisons, and sent a dozen or two of our 
steam frigates to the bottom of the Mediter- 
ranean, we shall be prepared to advise a re- 
cognition of their independence, at whatever 
cost to our pride." (Cheers.) I am glad 
your Thunderer has furnished me with words 
to express the exact sentiment of twenty mil- 
lions of Union men. It is not war alone ; for 
pestilence is in the rice swamp — Miasma is 
with the negroes — insurrection sleeps with 
the slave, and gaunt famine will soon hold 
his dreary Court of Death. The chiefs will 
slink away like rats from a burning ship^- 
already they are begging your embassador 
for an armistice — (hear, hear) — but they 
refused the Crittenden compromise. They 
have sown the wind and must reap the 
whirlwind — with naval brigades forming — 
patriotic bands raising — merchants contri- 
buting — bells ringing Union — cannon roar- 
ing Union — fair girls wearing next their 
bosom Union bows — (cheers and laughter) — 
woven with Union rosettes — and cheers 
going up to Heaven from the Union men of 
Union Square — with such action America 
fears no evil. The fisherman atMarblehead 
drops his net and cries Union, to the rescue 
— the farmer on the (ireen Mountains hears 
hears it at the plough, and the Ohio boatman 
passes over to the hunter on the jirairie, 
onward over the range of mountain passes to 
the gold digger on the Sacramento when up 
go the flags, as San Francisco cries Union 
along the line. (Cheers.) General Houston's 



38 



train's union speeches. 



;rrcat heart is gladdened at the sound, and 
ou he rushes with the red artillery. Fort 
Pickens booms a reply that reaches to the 
cajiitol, and cheers our old backwoodsman 
Tresident, till the tears start as he hears the 
cry of I'nion now, and Union for ever. It 
has been our livinjr sentiment, and, by the 
blessing of God, it shall be our dying senti- 
ment — Union now and Union for ever. 
(Loud cheers.) and let me say to the patriot 
bands of my dear country, in the words of 
Mark Lemon the poet manager of Punch, 
who wrote them for the Volunteers of Eng- 
land— 



step together! all together! close, close together! 

Keraember this is holy earth 
On which our measured footsteps tread, 

The living laud that gave us birth, 
The dust of our immortal dead ! 
Stop together! all together! close, close together! 

Each man true beside us; 
Close together! fall together! 

Death can but divide us. — (Cheers.) 
Perchance the spirits of our sires 

Look down from yon bright stars above, 
And from those orbs of quenchless fires, 

Light in our hearts a patriot love. . 
The wind shall bear across the sea 

The burden of our earnest song, 
Who, hearing, doubts, we will be free? 

They taunt us with our love of gold. 
Our hate of blood, our love of peace ; 

AVe would not sell what they have sold. 
For even life itselfs increase. — (Loud Cheers.) 



ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 

FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH ON THE 
AMERICAN DIFFICULTY. 



DEMONSTRATION IN LONDON. 

\^From the London American of June 19, 1861.] 



TiiK first important public expression of 
the people of Ureat Britain on the pending 
deplorable calamity pervading the United 
Slates of America, took ])lace on Monday at 
a sumptaous Union D6j uner, given by Mr. 
(Jeor^^e Francis Train, of IJoston, U. S., the 
well-known projector of Street Railways in 
Knglaiid, at the Westminster Palace Hotel, 
A'ictoria street, London, in commemoration 
of the anniversary of the liattle of Bunker's 
Hill. 

'i'lu! following characteristic note of invi- 
tation, which in a tasteful circular from that 
indefatigable gentleman, was extended to 
each of the guests, will convey the object of 
the convener of this nueetiiig, which came oil 
with very considerable dclul : — 

A.NMVERSAUY OF TUK 1!.\TTI,K OT' BUNKER's 
HII.L. WIM, Vof COMK TO 

A UNION DlvJKUNKK, 
At 2 o'clock, on the 17th of June, at the 
Wfsl minster J'alace Hotel? — Si.xly J Mates. 
.SiiH'(;rely Ijelieving that there are many 
llej)r<'senlativo men in this garden land of 
free opinions who bear kind wishes for the 
contitiucd unity of our pC()i)le and independ- 
\ nco of our nation, J have taken this method 
lo bring together some of the briglit minds 
of the age, in the liojje of counteracting the 
evil eflects of those secession journalists and 
statesmen who cheer so loudly whenever the 
•' bursting of the Kepublican bubble" is al- 
luded to. 



Let Lancashire and Yorkshire sympathize 
with the Pirate's Rebellion, and stimulate 
the Traitors on to their certain destruction ; 
but London, the first city of the world, is 
too proud and too independent to misrepre- 
sent the great English people by selling its 
sense of right for a bale of cotton. 

Nothing will please me more than to have 
you say Yes, addressed to 

Georgk Francis Train, 
18 St. James's street, Piccadilly. 

London, 1st June, 1861. 

FivE-MixuTE Speeches. 

Shortly after two o'clock Mr. G. F. Train 
took the chair. Amongst the numerous 
guests present, we noticed the following 
gentlemen: — W. J. Linton, Esq.; M. 8. 
iVIorgan ; C. Hathaway, Esq.; Mr. Shar- 
man {iMoiming Advertiser ;) Ueo. Hill; Gee, 
Hooper, Esq.; Mr. Tigenotf; Mr. Cropsey ; 
Mr. Murphy; Mr. Robinson; Mr. Blanch- 
ard Jerrold ; T. C. Gratton, Esq.; Mr. 
liohn ; Lord William Lenno.K ; Mr. James; 
Mr. Newton Crouch; Mr. James Grant; 
James Ewing Ritchie, Esq. ; J. Howard, 
Esq.; J. Snow, Esq., Editor of Observer; 
J. Adams Knight, Esq. ; A. W. Bostwick, 
Esq.; F. Lehmann ; Norton Shaw; D. D. 
Cunimiiig; G. B. Bruce, Esq., C, E. ; J. 
Lowe, E'^q ; George Vandenhoff, Esq.; G. 
M. Evans; Richard Coles, Mayor of South- 
ampton ; (ieo. Augustus Sala, Esq. ; Mr. 
Hccley; Mr. Ballard; G. lloutledge. Esq. ; 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



39 



Mr. Router; Mr. T. Webster, barrister; A. 
(J. Billiiio^es, Esq.; J. 13. Kitcat, G. P. 
Rippon, Esq. ; "VV. Hepworth Dixon, Tom 
Hood, Es(|. 

Tlie t'oUowinpf replies to invitations sent, 
whicli were neatly pasted in an elegant auto- 
graph book, will convey the sentiments of 
those gentlemen who were unable to be 
present. 

REPI,r FROM 

Walter Thornbury, Esq., All the Year 
Hound ; J. Snovve. Esq . Editor of the 
Obserrer- William Scholfield, Esq, M. T. 
for Birmingham ; T. M. Mackay, shi]) owner, 
Black Ball Line ; John lloward ; Richard 
Coles, Esq., Mayor of .Southampton ; A. W. 
Bostwick, Esq , Editor of the London 
American; VV. Hepworth Di.xon, Esq., 
Editor 0^ ihe AfheiKX am ; Dr. '\\ W. Gully, 
Author of works on llydropathj*; Wm. 
McCannon, Esq. ; R. Wells, Esq., the emi- 
nent Phrenologist ; George Augustus Hala, 
Esq., Author, Journalist, itc. ; George Van- 
denhoft", Esq., the distinguished Tragedian ; 
Sir James Rittery East, M. i).; G. Astor 
Bristed, Esq.; W. Westgarth, Esq , Author 
of works on Australian Colonies; J. Ho- 
ran, Esq., LL.U., Author and Tourist ; 
T. C. (irattan, Esq. (another civilized 
American, ttc, &c.) ; Stewart II. Brown, 
Esq., Liverpool, (of Messrs. Brown, Shipley 
& Co.) ; John B. Morgan, Esq., Assistant 
Secretary American Legation ; James Sheri- 
dan Knowles, Esq.. the distinguished dra- 
matist; John Adams Knight, Esq., Editor 
of the London American ; James Lowe, 
Esq., Editor of The Critic; Robert Bax- 
ter, Esq., Parliamentary Solicitor ; George 
Washington Taylor, Esq. ; John Drew, Esq., 
Comedian; H. A. .Murray, Esq., Author of 
" Slave and Free, &c. ;" Anthony Troilope, 
Esq., Author of " Framley Parsonage," &c., 
&c. ; Rt. Hon Ralph Dutton, M. F. ; Rear 
Admiral Sir Edward Belcher; Forbes Camp- 
bell, Esq. ; R. G. Moulton, Esq., of the house 
of Messrs. A. & S. Henry & Co., Manches- 
ter; L. N. Fowler, Esq., the eminent Phre- 
nologist ; Wm. S. Thayer, Esq., American 
Consul-General to Egypt ; Thornton Hunt, 
Esq., Author and Journalist; Thomas 
Brassey, Esq. ; R .H. Sherlock, Esq., Editor 
oi the Liverpool 3Iail ; John HoUingshead, 
P^sq., Editor and Journalist; E. F. Prentiss, 
Esq., Street Railway-Car Maker, of Phila- 
delphia ; Rear Admiral James Scott; Charles 
Hathaway, Esq., Street Railway. Contractor, 
of Philadelphia ; T. Humbar, Esq., Editor 
of the Morning Htrald ; Evered Taylor, 
Esq., Whipper-in of the Conservative Par- 
ty ; G. Julian Harney, Esq., Editor of the 
Jersey Independent ; W. J. Linton, Esq.; 
George Barclay Bruce, Esq., the distin- 
guished Civil Engineer ; C. J. Prowett, 
lL,sq., Editor of the John Ball ; The Editor 
of the >b'«n ; Charles S. Wilson, Esq. ; J. 
Ewiug Ritchie, Esq., Editor of the Illustra- 



ted News of the World ; George Hooper. 
Esq., Editor of the Glohe ; and many 
others. 

The cloth being removed, the Chairman 
rose to propose the first toast, and was re- 
ceived with enthusiastic and prolonged 
cheering. He said: — Gentlemen, — Dispen- 
sing with formality, red tape, and ill-nature, 
and admiring freedom of thought and free- 
dom of action, as well as the society of men 
of letters, 1 have gathered you about me to- 
day in this informal way for two reasons — 
both of course selfish — flrst, the ydeasure I 
alwaj's derive in having so many clever men 
my guests ; second, to show my countrymen 
at home how many good friends the Union 
can number among the true-hearted English- 
men of the land. ( Hear and applause.) We 
meet on a memorable day, and I thought I 
could not pay the Engli^^h ])eople a higher 
compliment than by celebrating the anniver- 
sary of a battle where, if my memory does 
not fail me, the Americans got handsomely 
whipped. (Laughter.) We are not here to 
show hostility to England, not to express 
sentiments of bad feeling towards you ; not 
to endorse the strong language of my Paris 
friends the other day at the Louvre, but to 
obtiiu from you a free expression of opinion 
of what is passing ill the New World. We 
will have a free debate, and ti» make it so we 
will not be too parliamentary. There will 
be but two toasts, and in order that there 
may be a base for argument I propose to fire 
off, with your permissson, my revolver now, 
while you are loading your W'hitworth guns. 
England will be surprised to hear that intel- 
ligent Americans do not estimate that there 
are six hundred conspirators in the league. 
One drop of poison may color a glass of 
water — one thief may arouse an entire town 
— one house on fire may alarm a village — 
the report of a pistol in a crowded theatre 
may startle the entire audience, so a few 
bad men in Buchanan's Caijinet contamina- 
ted all their rebel relations, and made men 
believe that they were the law and Davis 
was their {jropliet. Many a fire has beeu 
lit upon the Western prairie for the evening 
camp or for sport; but when the wind rose, 
the dames spread, and a sheet of flame raa 
through the land, burning down the wheat 
as well as the tares — green grass as well as 
dry — so in this ungodly revolution, the bad 
men overshadow the good, and the thou- 
sands devoted to the Union dare not speak ; 
but when the prairie fire has been extin- 
guished the green grass starts up afresh, 
and all that was bad was swept away by the 
raging stream — all that was good remained 
— aiui when the summer returns another 
year the green shoots spring out in the sun- 
light, and the Union men of the Southern 
country will again come into the councils of 
the nation, and sit once more among the 
patriotic statesmen of the laud. The pirate 



40 



train's union speeches. 



leader should not be called the Southern 
President! (Hear, hear.) I ignore his 
right of claiming that noble name. (Re- 
newed cries of hear, hear.) Expelled as a 
boy from Yale College for thieving — the 
di.«owned son-in-law of President Taylor — 
— the chief apostle of Mississippian repudia- 
tion — he has exactly fitted himself by a 
dishonest life to end as a traitor on the 
gallows. 

" Who would be a traitor knare? 
"Who ■would fill an Arnold's grave? 
Who would basely drive a slave 7 

Scoundrels turn and flee." 

The Sepoy leader based his power on re- 
pudiation and piracy — his lieutenant Ste- 
jihens on negro slavery ; for did he not say 
that the stone the builders rejected had be- 
come the corner of the edifice? These two 
men have brain, but no stamina — both have 
bad digestions ; and no successes on battle- 
field or council-board can be won with a bad 
digestion. Virginia, the mother of Presi- 
dents and the breeder of slaves, aspires to 
be the mother of traitors. Thank God, we 
shall hear no more about the F. F. Y.'s, 
unless to signify that i*^e/o/t-Floyd's Yillany. 
(Laughter and hear.) Macmillan has forci- 
bly described to us that Carolina and Yir- 
giuia were settled by thriftless adventurers 
— dissolute gentlemen who shirked their 
debts in England as they have ever con- 
tinued to do since, in the United States. 
'J'he Confederates are using Yirginia to pull 
the chestnuts out of the fire. Cobb assures 
his friends that the horrors of war will be 
confined to the border States — make Yir- 
ginia the battle-ground, and her bonds are 
not worth the paper on which they are 
printed. (Cheers.) What resources have 
the South ? for money makes war, as the 
want of it does peace. J. Davis boasts of 
two hundred thousand volunteers. They 
cost one hundred pounds a-year. hence twenty 
million pounds will be required the first | 
year. He has succeeded in getting about 
two million jiounds by loan, or a month's ! 
supply. With no ships — no provisions — no j 
money — no unity, and no hope — these flag- 
fursaktMi, c(jantiy-fursaken — God-forsaken 
wretches, what will l)e their end ? Thus far 
they ri'curd two grand victories. Eleven 
thousand Suuthurn chivalry of Charleston 
lake si.vty men in Sumter, after reducing 
ihein to three cartridges and to living on 
salt pork for forty-eight hours, and Alexan- 
dria assassinated Colonel Ellsworth as he 
trampled the jiirate Hag under his feet. 
How dillercnt tiie tone at the North. Lis- 
ten to Havis's cracked Italian organ grinding 
out Poor Old Ned — (roars of laughter) — and 
compare it with Lincoln's Dodswoith's Band 
playing Hail Columbia! (Cheers) No 
hin-ling soldiers ctjm|)ose the Norllii-rn bat- 
talions. It is no mercenary army, for life 
and fortune compare as nothing to save a 
nation's honor. Nc-ver before was the voice 



of the people so emphatically the voice of 
God. The child, the schoolboy, the mother, 
and the old man in the chimney corner — all 
echo the Scottish war sons — 

" Lay the proud enslaver low; 
Traitors fall in every foe ; 
Liberty's in every blow ; 
Let us do, or die!" 

(Prolonged cheering.) 
The traitors Lee, Beauregard, and Tatnal, 
and, I regret to say, Lieut. Maury, will 
shortly underfitand the difference between 
State rights and Federal wrongs. Few of 
our best army officers have deserted — such 
names as Scott, Harney, Mansfield, M'Dow- 
ell, M'Call, Cadwalader, Patterson, Ander- 
son, Sumner, and Dominick, still ornament 
the army roll. (Hear, hear.) Major-General 
Fremont and Major-General Banks will 
shortly emulate Major-General Butler in 
clearing the land from traitors. (Applause.) 
Already we see the fatal handwriting 
" Mene ! ]Mene ! tekel upharsin !" Already 
the Bacchanalians tremble before the Daniel 
come to Judgment ! 

Throughout the land there goes a cry 
A sudden splendor fills the sky : 
From every hill the banners burst, 
Like buds by April breezes nurst ; 
In every hamlet, home, and mart. 
The fireheat of a single heart 
Keeps time to strains whose pulses mix 
Our blood with tliat of Seventy-Six! 

The crack — the fissure, denotes the ex- 
pected fall of the tower ; the appearance of 
smoke indicates fire ; there is a shake upon 
the plain before the earthquake yawns ; a 
bellow from the volcano before it disem- 
bogues ; the blast precedes the storm, so 
the sudden change in the South betokens 
fears of coining evil. Russell hears no more 
threats of marching on Washington, no 
more seizing of Fanuiel Hall. (Hear.) 
How astonished he will be when coming up 
the Mississippi. IIow changed his tone — 
the difference between talk and action will 
please the wonderful describer of many 
battles. This war is not for conquest but 
liberation ; — (hear) — not from black work- 
men but white pirates. (Hear, hear.) 
1 England sided with Garibaldi and the world 
cheered because the world hated Bomba — 
but had the Government of the United 
States become so hateful that England 
j should show such unnecessary haste in lend- 
ing her sympathy to the conspirators who 
were seeking her destruction. (No.) Where 
was our inquisition ! whom had we tortured ? 
in what respect did the Federal Govern- 
ment resemble Bomba or the pirate chief 
resemble the patriot leader, Garibaldi ? 
What crimes have we committed in the 
North? was it the sending war ships to 
Ireland with corn in 1848? was it the pre- 
sentation of the Arctic exploring ship to 
her .Majesty ? was it the warm and honest 
welcome we gave the Royal Prince? (Yo- 
ciferous cheering ) What crimes have they 
not committed in the South ? did they not 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



41 



knock down a Northern Senator in the ' 
('i)uncil of the Nation ? — (hear) — did the}' j 
not tai<e a British captain from a British 
ship and tar and featlier him on the shore ? 
^ (shame) — did not 'I'hoinpson, Cobb, and 
Floyd, commit hi^'h treason over their Bible 
oaths? Have they not robbed the public 
Treasury? Betrayed important forts? — 
assassinated Northern ofhcc^rs? — reptidiatcd 
private obligations ? — confiscated private 
property ? — sold poisoned food to Federal 
soldiers? — (hear, hear, hear) — laid Orsini 
plans to send the President to eternity over 
a Maryland precipice? Have they not 
emulated Yey in his Canton brutality, and 
offered large sums for the heads of Lincoln 
and of Hcott? Was there not a proclama- 
tion ofiering !|^20 for dead men and S'25 for 
live men ? Was not one of their first acts 
legalising piracy? — (renewed cries of hear) 
— Ai\^ not these more the acts of Bomba, 
and the uprising of the North more like the 
Garibaldian Revolution ? No Indian Thug, 
no Camanchee Indian, could have committed 
worse or more crimes in so short a time ; 
and yet England, instead of giving at once 
a cold shoulder to the fatal councils of their 
agents, gently leaned towards their unchris- 
tian cause, snapping at once asunder the 
silken cord of friendship which bound our 
nations together. England calls us thin- 
skinned ; we are too sensitive, &c. It 
seems to me the more sensitive the more 
honest. A thick skin would be indicative of 
hardened crime. Is not the thin-skinned 
sensitiveness of a blushing school girl pre- 
ferable to the callous demeanor of the painted 
Cyprian of the Ilaymarket? Change posi- 
tions fur a moment. Did America hasten 
to acknowledge the Irish Rcbellionists as 
belligerents, and send a hostile fleet off the 
Irish shores to encourage the Irish ? Sup- 
pose the United States had dispatched a 
squadron to the mouth of the Thames with' 
instructions to await the issue of the rising 
of the Chartists ? . Did America assist 
Papineau in Canada? Do we sympathise 
with the New Zealanders? " We shonld be 
sorry (writes the Times, May2H) to see the 
Maories treated ivith cruelty, hut that the 
settlers must increase and the colony expand 
is a result which the course of nature ren- 
ders positively certain.'" Most forcibly 
these comments apply to our present diffi- 
culty, for in no other way can we educate, 
civilise, and christianise the illiterate por- 
tion of our domains. Did not America 
share the deepest interest in the success of 
the British arms in India? Did not our 
people i>ut the flags at half-mast throughout 
the land when the death of Havelock fell 
like a knell upon the nations? (Applause.) 
Suppose instead that we had sent lU'^n of 
war to the Indian shore, — acknowledge the 
Sepoys as belligerents, and patted Nana on 
the shoulder, as England has done with the 



Sepoys under the Nana of Mississippi. (No. 
no.) The taking of Fort Sumter was the 
massacre of Cawnpore — (without the mas- 
sacre.) Did England hasten to acknowledge 
Kossuth and Hungary? There may not hQ 
analogy in these cases, but they are the 
stock arguments used in America. Nations, 
like individuals, gain nothing by being 
unjust. Is slavery any more a virtue now 
than before the cotton was in danger ? Is 
it enough to make patriots of rebels because 
they happen to grow the cotton plant? 
Day by day I have watched the tide of sen- 
timent in England — mail after mail arrives, 
and England is still in doubt. The feeling 
is give me cotton, or give me war. England 
is in a dilemma ; she must acknowledge 
that the Republic is a success, or keep on 
as she has done, siding with the rebels. 
Who before ever heard of the; chief of 
police taking the part of the burglars which 
he caught in the act ? We must hang some 
new pictures on the wall, such as aboli- 
tionist England sitting affectionately on the 
lap of negro slavery ; and again the amaze- 
ment that rests on the placid faces of the 
E.xeter-hall party on being informed that 
the negroes were being armed to protect 
their masters. Mr. Clay's athletic Western 
argument was brought out the more forci- 
bly by the weakness of Mr. De Leon's 
Southern reply. Clay drove the nail 
straight home, and De Leon could not get it 
out again. The Times rejoinder could not 
erase the crashing logic of the author of 
the Dutch Republic in his strong array of 
facts. Everybody reads the Times, and 
everybody knows how it has ignored the 
great North in its admiration for the little 
South ; who inspires its secession treason ? 
(No, no.) Such is my opinion, gentlemen, 
i am sorry to say it. Is it Delane, or Lowe, 
or Mowbray Morris? Is it Morley, or Jacob 
Ominiun, or Godolphin Osborne or Desant ? 
Is Rothschild interested in Southern 
Stocks ? — and pray who of them all has been 
to America but Delane ? It certainly cannot 
be Sampson, for he is always firing broad- 
sides against Southern Repudiation. But 
anyway, there is the fact — the Times declared 
war, and England cheered — when the Times 
lays an egg, the nation cuckles. England 
must have known that separation destroys 
the Republic, and that destroyed self-gov- 
ernment is a misnomer. This may account 
for Lord John Russell's position. He has 
undone a quarter of a century of work. The 
year L'^Gl will inaugurate a new era in the 
history of the world: — I. England can no 
longer he the shirt-maker of the toorld, for 
money and labor is now as cheap in America 
as in England, and new factories will grow 
up in the South as well as the North. 2. 
England can no longer exchange her iron 
mines for our gold and silver, for the forges 
of Pennsylvania will soon be burning night 



42 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



and day us in Eng-land. 3. Enjjiand can no 
lun<rer bo the Hanker of America. It will 
not take New York so long to eat up Lon- 
don, as it did London to eat up Amster- 
dam. 'I'lie tide has turned at last — a 
million of jzold. a month goes to the West 
this year, as in former years a million of 
silver went to the East. 'IMic Law of Na- 
tions on the sea was made in 1752 Ity the 
law ollicers of England, when Prussia 
threatened reprisals on English property 
for damages done by English privateers. 
Lord Stuwell endorsed it in 1792, and Judge 
iStory adopted it. That law took an enemy's 
))roperty in a friend's .ship, and restored a 
friend's when on board an enemy's, each 
nation at war examining the other's ships. 
France objected, as she always did to Eng- 
land's ])o]icy, but after three hundred and 
fifty years of war during their seven hun- 
dred years acquaintance, France and Eng- 
land embraced over the dead heroes at 
Inkermann and Sebastopol, and in 1854 both 
nations acted under common rules Two 
years later (185G) Austria, llussia, Prussia, 
Turkey, and Sardinia followed suit. Ame- 
rica refused to join, because that thief J. 
Davis was Secretary of \\'ar, and was ma- 
luring his treason, but the new admiuistra- 
tion accepted without delay ; for from 1778 
to 18.^4, An)erica had declared privateering 
piracy — vide Treaty with France, 177i-i ; 
Prussia, 1783 ; England, 1794 ; Spain, 179:"); 
Sweden, 181G; and even Buchanan, in his 
last meeting with Clarendon, agreed to 
terms — if England would apply the rule to 
the lu'otection of private i)roperty on land, 
the same as on the sua. But it must be 
remembered that a law for peace does not 
always hold good in war. There is a wide 
dilTerence between searching an American 
sngar coaster olf Cuba for negroes, and an 
English ship going into Charleston with 
Armstrong guns I America now acts on 
the Paris treaty, and blockade is ell'ectual, 
therefore I'^ngland cannot interfere. The 
South is powerless to do any harm. 'I'he 
South has no ships, hence privateers would 
have to fit out from the North ; and if 
Northern they are traitors, robbers and 
Bcainps, and in any case are hung from the 
yard-arm. ( Prolonged cheers.) 'i'liere can 
be few i)rivateers. Why? Because sailing 
vessels can't compete with strain, and steam 
is too exjjensive, and steamers are built 
North. Even if they had them, where 
could they coal ? A fortnight at sea and 
they are without fuel. 1 mention these 
facts to show the absurdity of the high war 
premiums at Lloyds, and the wide dillerence 
in freights of American and English ships 
l)ouml (!ast, and just as though J. Davis' 
pirates could live out of sij^ht of laml. 
Si any Ameiicans had called themselves 
Hoveieigiis until they almost forgot that 
they were subjects as well. Now, gentle- 



mem, without occupying any more of your 
time at present, but to say I have called 
you together to hear what the brain of Eng- 
land, which you so ably represent to-day 
(for we have several distinguished literary 
men present) Avill say on this Secession 
movement in our country. Calhoun was 
born a traitor, lived a traitor, and died a 
traitor. Gen. Jackson faintly articulated 
with his dying breath one lasting regret — 
and that was, that he did not hang .John C. 
Calhoun as high as Ilaman. What doctrine 
is that that we should love our State better 
than our Government. How unnatural to 
love one's aunt better than one's mother. 
Did not all the States agree that the Fede- 
ral Government should be guardian of the 
whole country? Who was to control the 
Indians, regulate the army, manage the 
navy ? Who carried the mails and collected 
the revenues? Who settles the national 
claims and makes war?" AVho built the forts, 
the arsenals, and the dock-yards, and who 
sells the public lands ? The Federal Gov- 
ernment — and by delegated authority from 
the compact of States. Hence the absur- 
dity of the States' rights doctrines. Out 
of his own mouth I convict the Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Confederate States. ('"Bravo," 
and cheers.) On the 14th of November 
last in his speech at Milledgeville, he said 
the Government of the U nited States " Con- 
vey near the objects of all good Government 
than any other on the face of the earth." 
And he triumphfully asked, " Where will 
you go following the Sun in his circuit round 
the globe, to find a Government that better 
protects the liberties of the people and 
secures to them the blessings which we 
enjoy." Eemember what 1 told you about 
the limited number of the conspirators. 
Have you ever been at Niagara? Stand 
with me on the banks, and mark the fierce 
struggle of logs and canoes — birds and bea.sts 
in that terrible battle of the rapids. Once 
drawn into that ravenous Maelstrom all con- 
trol is lost — they cannot return, but turning 
round and round in the myriad whirlpools 
for days and nights, they at last plunge into 
the abyss below, no more to be seen for 
ever ; so is it with the chiefs of the Pirate 
League — Thompson, Stephens, Wigfall, 
Walker, Davis, Floyd, Slidell, 'J'oombs, 
Mallory, Yulee, Benjamin, Cobb, Wise, 
llhett, Keitt, Yancey, Breckenridge, Bay- 
ard, Green, Mason, Hunter, Clingman, Pryor 
— they are now in the rapids of the French 
Revolution which they have created, and 
ere the lleign of 'J'error is over they will 
make the fearful plunge, and pass over the 
falls, where all the devils are holding a ju- 
bilee in hell in that dark sepulchral dungeon 
of the infernal regions especially reserved 
for traitor^. (Prolonged applause and 
laughter.) I call upon you all to till your 
glasses, and I will give you " Victoria, the 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



43 



Queen of England," as the first toast, which, 
1 am sure, you will all do honor to. (Renew- 
ed cheering.) 

The toast was then given, and drank with the 
usual demonstration of loyalty and esteem. 

Jjord AViLLiAM Lennox said: (gentlemen, 
when five minutes only are allowed at a rail- 
way station for you to get refreshment you 
endeavor to get it at once ; your object is to 
get it as-quick as possible. J shall, therefore, 
not make any apology to you for entering on 
my subject at once, i)ut call upon you to drink 
the health of the President of the United 
States. (Cheers.) I am sure that I am only 
echoing the feelings and sentiments of every 
man in America when 1 say we wish to live 
on terms of amity and peace with your great 
country. (Applause.) 1 have been accused, 
and, 1 think unjustly; so that this is surely a 
question of interest on account of lis aflect- 
iug the cotton sup])lies. I at once state that 
that is not our feeling. We are influenced 
by a much higher and a much nobler princi- 
])le. We wish to live on terms of friendship 
with a country that has produced some of 
the greatest men, both in art and in science. 
(Cheers.) We wish to live amicably with a 
nation that has identified itself for its free- 
dom and its liberty : with a nation that can 
boast valiant sons and veteran hearts, and 
■we wish that country to live in terms of 
amity and the best friendship towards us. 
( Loud applause.) I am afraid I have ex- 
ceeded my time. I can only hope that these 
unfortunate differences will soon be over. It 
would be extremely bad taste to give any 
opinion on them ; 1 only hope it will not en- 
gender any ill feeling, and that this country 
will still act with strict neutrality, and not 
take any part in the continuation of the war. 
I lieg leave to propose " the President of the 
Uuiled .States," and sincerely hope that the 
wishes of the Americans will be realised, and 
good feeling will again be restored to the 
United States. (Cheers.) 

After eloquent speeches from Mr. G. Yan- 
denhoff; Mr. H. Dixon, (of the Atheni3eum) ; 
Mr. S. Coyne ; Mr. T. C. Grattan ; Mr. Jas. 
Grant, (editor '' Morning Advertisdr"); Mr. 
Geo. Routledge ; Mr. Hooper ;Mr. Gumming, 
(Eng.); Mr. Murphy, {United Service Ga- 
zette); Capt. Hamber, (Manhattan); and 
others. 

Lord William Lennox : I rise again, Gen- 
tlemen, to propose a toast on which I am 
sure there can be no diflerence of opinion in 
this assembly. It is a toast which I am sure 
must come to all as a most appropriate and 
welcome one. It is the health of my worthy 
friend our host, Mr. George Francis Train, 
( vociferous and prolonged cheering), and 
therefore 1 venture to intrude a second time 
upon you with the full assurance that you 
will do all honor to this toast. 

The toast was drunk upstanding with mu- 
sical honors. 



j\rr. Train : Gentlemen, I assure you when 
I mentioned Lord Lennox's name 1 was not 
aware that he was going to call upon me. I 
thought he was going to respond to some- 
thing which has been said, or I would have 
re(|uested him to let me except my speech. 
Let me answer those questions as to what I 
could do ; let me say what I did not do. 
Perhaps there is no analogy in it. These 
are the arguments I have heard Americana 
use, I can only tell you, gentlemen, it is a 
notorious fact when the Times takes snuff 
all England sneezes. ( Laughter.) (Jentle- 
men, 1 do not know how it is, but it is so. 
Secession and treason is generally treated 
the same. Who was Sampson, he is always 
tiring broadsides, I really don't know, but it 
is a notorious fact everybody reads the 
Times, and they have been with the seces- 
sionists from the very first. How absurd ! 
next week they will commence turning the 
corner, and they will do it beautifully, I 
tell you, with regard to this question. INfr. 
Clay — You should not forget when blaming 
Mr. Clay that he was a pupil of Wilberforce, 
of Buxton, and Macaulay — a man of large 
fortune — a Southerner — a slaveowner — but 
so earnest an Abolitionist he liberated all 
his negroes — he has proclaimed his senti- 
ments with loaded pistols by his side, and 
fought duels in its cause. Imagine his sur- 
prise to arrive in Abolitionist England just 
in time to read Lord John's speech on the 
Belligerents. He chance fired a rifle into 
the Times — discharged an Armstrong gun 
at Paris — and I have no doubt, in his indig- 
nation has been cracking pistols all the way 
to St. Petersburg. (Loud laughter.) We 
have not yet taken sympathy with the New 
Zealanders I thought once you need not 
fear invasion from France or Germany, but 
New Zealand, and fancied I saw the New 
Zealander sitting on London Bridge. I tell 
you that there is danger, and we must not 
be apathetic — I warn you, gentlemen — 1 sin- 
fcerely believe that if you do not express 
yourselves warmer thau you have done in 
less than two weeks, the American ambassa- 
dor will be in England, and England and 
America will be at war. Be not too apa- 
thetic. I would warn you lest you undo the 
course of forty years and find yourselves 
laying in the lap of negro slavery. I am 
earnest I assure you. 1 mean what 1 say. M y 
father and mother and dear sisters lie in 
New Orleans hostages to that fatal climate. 
]\[y grandfather had a large plantation and 
many slaves in Baltimore. I love my coun- 
try and will defend its flag. I prefer war to 
dishonor. I cannot cease to think we shall 
love that beautiful idea, the flag. 1 want a 
union of lakes, a union of State.v, a union of 
sympathies, a union of hearts, a union of 
hands, and the flag of our Union for ever. 
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, , I would have the 
stars and stripes endorsed on our fraternity. 



44 



train's uniox speeches. 



Gentlonion this is what I wanted: an expres- 
sion of iiiiinidu from you here. I tell you, 
you are too apathetic. If you cannot ex- 
press warmer sentiments for the Northern 
country, if you are afraid to speak, if you 
have not pluck, say so. ( Cheers.) If you 
were all meml>ers of Parliament, or if I had 
met the ministry, I mi.nht have expected to 
find their mouths shut. I am surprised at 
this ajiathy. You do not know now which 
side you arc on. I sincerely liolieve that, 
by Georpe, you are all Secessionists, inas- 
much as, ill two or three points, I hear some 
speakers get up and speak on its principles. 
I believe, if I take this meeting as a guide, 
the American Ambassador will be in Paris 
next week ; and mind you — I beg your par- 
don — I see that you have sent 3.000 men 
over in the Great Eastern — fearful that the 
South will overrun the North — you are send- 
ing these men over there. (Cheers.) I be- 
lieve, when Mr. Murphy tells me he does 
not care about the cotton plant, he does it 
beautifully. Asa son of Ireland, he might 
as well tell me he did not like the potato 
crop. ( Laughter and cheers.) Gentlemen, 
I only say, in returning the compliment, I 
like -this old hind and count r}'. I came here, 
not to ex])ress hostile feelings. I like En- 
gland ; and I will express my opinion at all 
times and on all occasions. I tell you, .gen- 
tlemen, when I see apathy it pains my heart, 
and I seem to feel that if this is a fair rep- 
resentation of the sentiments of this glorious 
old land, then I confess I am mistaken, I 
have been deceived. I really do not think 
that the brain of the country, the editors and 
journalists, ami authors and writers, sincerely 
wish us well in the North. (Yes, we do.) 
Then, gentlemen, let the expression of your 
opinion go forth. 'J'he short-hand writer is 
here, and is taking down every word ; it will 
be publi.^hed in " Tiik London Amekican," 
and it goes all over the country. Anybody 
can leave this room without making a speech, 
Ijut, for (Jod's sake, show more enthusiasm 
as Englishmen, and dim't dodge the question. 
You are not members of the House of Com- 
mons, but can exi)re.ss your sentiments, and 
tell us whether you want union or disunion — 
whether you want honor or disgrace. Gen- 
tlemen. 1 thank you, i»ut all the world will 
know th(i apathetic opinion you feel on this 
fpiestion. One word mure. Letme tell you 
that England has foes on every side. Never 
nif)re S(i than now. Look at Prussia — look 
at France — look at Russia, — these continen- 
tal powers hate you worse than the devil. 
(Cheers.) 1 tell you that they are not your 
friends, and the time may (•ome when you 
will find that America is the truest friend 
you have got. ( Loud cheers.) 

Followed l»y .Mr. IJergh, of America; 
Mr. JUancharcl .lernild, (the distinguished 
writer); Mr. Geo. Vandenhoff; Mr. (Jeorge 
Augustus Sala; Mr. .Staunton Austin, (of 



the "Morning Chronicle") Mr. Gumming 
then sung aFrench song, and Newton Cronch 
an amusing comic song. 

Speech from R. Colis, Esq., ( Mayor of 
Southampton); IMr. Tom Hood ; Mr. Snow, 
( of the " Observer") ; Captain Henley; Mr. 
Howard; Mr. Lehman; Mr. Bigelow, (of 
Roston, U. S. A.) ; Mr. Geo. Barclay Bruce ; 
I\rr. John Adams Knight, ( of the "London 
American"); and Dr. Shaw, (secretary to 
the (icographical Society), who called on Mr. 
Train for a song. 

Mr. Train : Before I do anything, gentle- 
men, let me say a word in reply to these 
Secessionists. A gentleman has most origi- 
nally put the case, but I will tell you that 
the State of Ohio has offered 100,000 volun- 
teers, the State of Illinois, 30,000 ; and our 
country is in arms, and although we have 
had but seven weeks since the proclamation 
there are over 300,000 able-bodied athletic 
men in the field who don't look to their 
pocket or cotton, or anything of that kind. 
Gentlemen, I tell you Thompson, and all 
these bad men who have escaped as George, 
without getting a bullet in them or a rope 
round their necks, will become refugees in 
this country. There have been two mag- 
nificent victories — 11,000 men have taken 60 
men in Fort Sumter, and the other victory 
was at Alexandria — the coward has tram- 
pled the flag under his feet. Let me tell 
you it is the bravest thing ever done by any 
man. Who were these men? the Southern 
chivalry. There is a fine idea of the fight — 
we have gone to Alexandria and Harper's 
Ferry, and surrounded that brave old Gene- 
ral Scott. That was never dreamed of. We 
have got all the ports blockaded. Let the 
Union men who dare not speak, now let 
them spring up and strangle the leaders. I 
tell you, gentlemen, you are going to get 
next year a half a cotton crop, and half a 
cotton crop moans Lancashire in flames. 
_( No, no). Gentlemen, you have been uovv 
twenty years talking about cotton in India. 
It is simply a question of capital. We have 
got four millions of men who are fire proof — 
they can stand. Some time ago I put forth 
the idea that you did not pay anything for 
negro emancii)ation, but only added to the 
national debt. ( Laughter, and " America 
was ])aid"). There were 800,000 negroes at 
.£7"), and at £40 you made £60,000 out of 
the enemy. ("That won't do," and laugh- 
ter). I can assure you I am in earnest. I 
sincerely believe this, gentlemen, is arising 
out of the action you have taken in regard 
to the Southern I'orts, that the news and 
intelligence has arrived for our ambassadors 
to withdraw their papers, and go to Paris. 
( Hear.) 1 know what I am talking about. 
Gentlemen, 1 do not want to throw any light 
among these powder magazines. I do not 
want any one to say that Boston is one of 
my Slave States — 1 do not want to hear 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



45 



tclcf^ram from America "Latest news — 
Mother failure — horrible tragedy in the Uni- 
!"'l States." America will now be stronger 
than ever, and perfectly startled at its 
strength. I say, gentlemen, that this coun- 
try will shortly see where their interests are. 
Now for God's sake you clever men at the 
I)en. you Bianchard Jerrold, you Sala, and 
you Murphy, I want you all to hear me, and 
go out and express yonr sentiments, and let 
these be the sentiments of peace to l)ind 
England and America together. Gentle- 
men, 1 will sing a song, but before I do so I 
will call upon some else, because I think it 
is the duty of a host to let every one fire off 
his revolver, and get his gun loaded. I will 
therefore call upon Dr. Lane. 



Followed by speeches from Dr. Lane and 
Mr. Cuniming. 

Mr. 'J'rain then sang the well-known song, 
" Camp Town Kaces," which he did in his 
eminently characteristic style, improvising 
the company as he proceeded, and eliciting 
roars of laughter, 

Speeches from Mr. Geo. Augustus Sala; 
Mr. Starbuck; Mr. AVebster; Mr. Charles 
Hathaway, (Street Railway Contractor); 
Capt. Collinson; Mr. Vandenhoff and others. 

The bill of fare was of a sumptuous and 
most satisfactory character, aiul thanks to 
the chairman's ability as an improvisitore, 
combined with the general harmony, the 
proceedings, which did not terminate until 
late, were highly agreeable. 



WAR, COTTOX, AND A SUGGESTION. 

[From the London American of September 25, 1861.] 



The Morning Chronicle, the Morning 
Post, the Portsmouth Guardian, the Liv- 
erpool Post and the Daily Neivs, publish 
the following letter from Mr. Train, suggest- 
ing an export duty on cotton : — 

18 St. James's street, Piccadilly, 1 
September 22, 1861. j 

Sir — The great question of to-day is not 
Rome or Hungary — nor gold — nor corn — 
nor social science — nor the stock exchange 
— but cotton. Nothing so important now 
as cotton wool. We wear it — we walk on 
it — we sit on it — we sleep on it — and some 
millions depend upon it for money to pur- 
chase food. 

Some newspapers see the danger, and 
please their readers with sympathizing with 
rebellion, and misrepresentation of the Fed- 
eral power. Meanwhile the country corks 
up the cotton ports, and has had the au- 
dacity to absorb the thirty* millions sterling 
war loan in three of its leading cities, with- 
out consulting the London market, the only 
overt act yet committed giving England 
sufficient cause to break the blockade ! All 
this time economists look to India, Australia 
and Africa, for supply — so be it — but that 

* Thirty millions sterling! or thirty shillings a-piece 
for lis ! One year's economy pays the entire bill. 
Already the nation saves (the first eight mouths), in 
comparison with last year — 

In imports £14,000,000 

Excess of exports o,00u,000 

Less exports of specie 6,000,000 

£25,000,000 
f The same ratio for the year would give three millions 
more thau the entire loan, which is the largest war 
loan ever madi . 



is in the future. Look to-day in the face. 
Ten days without food will shake the strong- 
est constitution. Sometimes nations resem- 
ble individuals. The cotton is locked up — 
not a pound can be released till treason is 
beheaded, and foul murder is no more in 
the land. Speculators have organized cot- 
ton panics each year in my remembrance, 
but this time it is a sad reality. It is not 
now the worm, nor flood, nor tempest, nor 
servile insurrection, but the mad ambition of 
a dozen bad men, who have imperilled the 
peace of the world, and bid fair to disorgan- 
ize one-half of its commerce by stopping all 
its textile machinery. 

The 8O0,0U0 bales in hand to-day, with the 
200,000 to arrive before Christmas, give but 
1,000,000 bales for the next six months. 
Economy would make this last longer, but 
it so happens that 250,000 bales will be 
wanted for export. Here is the suggestion 
— Is it prudent to allow this to leave the 
country ? France prohibits the export of 
corn when it suits her pleasui'e. Wliy should 
not England stop the cotton, and keep the 
mills running on short time ten weekg 
longer, when our ship of state may be re- 
paired, ready again to enter the ocean race- 
course and compete for the commerce of 
the sea? One bale of prevention is better 
than a cargo of cure ; 260,000 bales saved, 
are equal to one hundred cargoes arrived. 

Parliament is away grouse shooting ; but 
could not Lord Palmerston pass an order 
in Council to clap an export duty on cottoa 
of ten pounds sterling a bale ? 

Your obedient servant, 

Geo. Francis Train. 



46 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



now TO ruNisn traitors. 

[From (he London American of October 23, 1861.] 



TO THE EDITOR OF TIIR " I.ONDOX AMERICAN. 



18 St. James Rlreet, 
London, October 19, 18G 



I.} 



PiR — Straw? don't always? show which way 
Ihti wind blows, but the .signs of the times 
are nnniistakcable. 

When the secession balloon shortly col- 
lapses, the Federal forces should make fast 
the event in history. Treason is about to 
die. "Why, then, let the traitor live? 

South C.irolina has been, is now, and 
will continue to be, the national assassin, 
unless summarily executed. 

Nullification followed Toryism, Secession 
succeeded Nullification, and Death should 
be the sequence of Secession. 

Bury then South Carolina in her damning 
villany, and forgive the erring States she 
has led astray. 

How can this old pirate craft be de- 
stroyed? We cannot scuttle her, nor can 



we burn her to the water's edge; but we 
can divide her, break her up, and give her 
rotten State Rights timber to the adjoining 
States (that is, if they will accept them). 

The partition of Poland was a national 
crime, and the land is still dressed in the 
deepest mourning ; but the partition of 
South Carolina would be a national retribu- 
tion worthy of the great nation she sought 
to ruin. 

Blot her abhorrent name out of the map 
of our fair Western World, and let us try 
and forget that this hell-creating Province 
was ever one of the more or less United 
States of America. 

Enormous crime deserves enormous pun- 
ishment. South Carolina-was born a traitor, 
has lived a traitor, and should die the death 
of a traitor. 

Your obedient servant, 

George Francis T^^iain. 

P. S.— ,?7ie is dead! 



m. TRAH ON THE AMERICAN QUESTION. 

[From the London American of October 31, 1861.] 



The reflecting men of England, are con- 
centrating their thoughts on the American 
question, all classes discuss it, and it is the 
general theme of conversation wherever men 
gather together. Each newspaper has its 
leaders, and each member of Parliament has 
his fling at the '' Bul)l)le bursting liepublic 
of the West." At a dinner given by Henry 
AVood, Es(|., the largo anchor and chain 
manufacturer of Birkenhead, at the West- 
minster Palace Hotel, on October 30, 1860, 
this all-absorbing subject, the American 
question, was the feature of the entertain- 
ment. Our Consul, Mr Morse, made a 
most eloquent speech. Mr. Bell, the builder 
of the Warrior, Mr. Gladstone, and a distin- 
guished gentlemen from (ieorgia who re- 
cently left that State for his Union senti- 
ments, and several other gentlemen joined 
in the animated debate between the English, 
the Scotch, and the Americans. Mr. Geo. 
Francis Train, whose strong Cnion scnti- 
ment.s have so often been recorded in these 
columns, created some excitement by his 
attack on England's unmanly course in this 
ungodly rel)e!lion. and some of his strictures 
were emphatically rlenied by some of the 
gentlemen present — the chairman especially, 



■who asserted that he knew there was the 
most friendly feeling in this country towards 
Amei'ica. 

Some extracts from Mr. Train's speech 
will show the warmth of the debate : — 

Mr. Chairman : You are an old friend of 
mine, and knowing me so well lam surprised 
that you call me up on street railways when 
the American question is on the table. 
(Hear.) 1 admit that I am goodfor a speech 
on that or any other topic, but to-night I 
intend to sink the shop and talk the Senate 
Chamber — suQice it to know that my suc- 
cess is complete. (Hear and cheers.) I 
have run the gauntlet, with all kinds of 
weapons aimed at me, but have passed the 
Manasses Gap of English Conservatism and 
introduced a carriage for the people — 
(cheers) — with colors flying and lots of 
money still in the treasury. (Hear, and 
laughter.) But no more of that, let me talk 
on America. I thank j-ou, Mr. Wood, and 
you, gentlemen, for your good wishes for 
peace, l)ut we want no peace. You say Eng- 
land is with us, I know that she is against 
us, and has been from the first. (No, no.) 
I say yes, yes — and the question is, how 
much plain talk can you stand from a man 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



47 



■who loves his wife, his chihh-en, and his 
God — but who loves his country more than 
all — (loud cheers) — for a man without- a 
country is unworthy of wife and children, 
and poor God- forsaken devil, he had better 
Jie — (Hear, hear,)— and this, <jentleinen, is 
what England has rcconimended. (No.) 
Eniiland's neutrality has already cost five 
thousand lives ; she has made a great mis- 
take, and three months hence she will ac- 
knowledge it. AVill you let me speak my 
mind ? (Yes.) Now, I beg of you gentle- 
men, not to get e.xcited when 1 tell you a 
few startling facts to prove how unwise — 
how ungenerous — how dangerous has been 
England's so-called neutrality on the Ameri- 
can question. England's sympathies are 
•with, and have been with the South — not out 
of hate to the North, but because she wished 
to see us break in two. (" No.") When a 
man is very ill it is, to say the least of it, 
bad taste to go and order all your mourning, 
for, perhaps, he may get well again, and how 
suri)rised he would be to see the notices of 
his death, which were prepared. England's 
neutrality consists in standing on the plat- 
form and cheering the rebels on. Read the 
secession organs of the country. Secession 
organs, did I say? There arc no others, 
save the Daily Neivs, the Star, the Liver- 
pool Post, and two or three more journals 
— the rest all have flags flying, and cannons 
booming to stimulate treason on to murder I 
The press leads the way. The Cabinet 
would declare war at once if it dared ; and I 
am not sure but what the Mexican interven- 
tion is war in disguise. Read the speeches 
of Members of Parliament to their con- 
stituents. You find them secession to the 
backbone. Is there any question about 
Lindsay's language, or Captain Jarvis, or 
Bulwer Lytton? I like Bulwer for his 
frankness and his honesty. He is no hypo- 
crite. He talks as he thinks, and says that he 
hopes the country will not only break up in 
two, but in four pieces ! It is already too pow- 
erful, and its growth should be checked. 
England's neutrality consists in giving all 
her sympathy to the rebels. Suppose you 
and 1, Mr. Chairman, were friends for forty 
years' acquaintance, and some night in the 
highway a burglar tries to assassinate you 
after having stolen your money, would you 
not think it almost out of the pale of 
humanity in this civilized age to have me 
remain neutral 'I or. what is worse, to hear 
me cheer the thief on his bloody work ? 
(Chairman. — It is not a fair analogy.) 
Analogy or not, that is England's position 
to-day towards America! (No, no). Ere 
many months you may have revolution in 
this garden island — the revolution that 
arises from a starving population — for is 
there not unmistakable signs of a corn 
famine in Ireland, and a cotton famine in 
England ? Suppose such to happen, and 



class should be arrayed against class, would 
you not think it damnable for America to 
join the rebels, and cry lastly for the de- 
struction of this proud nation, as England is 
continuing to cry for America's ruin ? 
(Hear, hear, and No.) Here are the facts 
I wish to make known. The South has 
always been the enemy of England, as the 
North has been her friend, (Hear, and 
True.) Every act of hostility has emanated 
from that quarter. I>ook along our history's 
page. AVhat was the non-intercourse Act 
previous to the last war but a Southern 
institution ? "Was not the Embargo Act 
and the war of 1812 itself a Southern insti- 
tutiorv? The whole North was against it, 
and the Hartford conventionites, to this day 
are subjects of derision by the Southerners 
for the sympathy New r^ngland showed for 
Old England. (Hear, and cheers.) WfTat 
was the High Tariff Act, the twenty-five 
cent, a yard duty on cotton goods of 1816, 
but a Southern institution ? All New Eng- 
land voted against Mr. Calhoun's American 
system. It was the same in 1820 and 1824; 
but the South having passed their high 
tariff, the North showed its enterprise by 
putting up cotton mills, and it was not for 
some years after (1828) that the North vo- 
ted for protection. Then Mr. Calhoun, in 
1832, wanted to kill the bantling he had 
created in 1816, and because he could not 
succeed, started his hell-born nullification 
cry, which was so summarily stopped by 
General Jackson. What was the Mexican 
war but a Southern institution to get new 
slave lands? What were the Filibustering 
expeditions against Cuba but Southern in- 
stitutions ? Where did Lopez hail from ? 
Where Walker? Where did Lynch law, 
the bowie-knife, and the duelist originate, 
but in the South ? Is not repudiation purely 
a Southern institution ? Who was it that 
showed their sympathies against p]ngland in 
the Russian war but the entire democratic 
party, which for forty years has been a 
Southern institution ? The Whigs were with 
England, but the Democrats cheered the 
Russian arms. These are all Southern in- 
stitutions, and certainly, Negro Slavery is 
not an institution of the North. Where, 
then, does England find food for sympathy 
with the damned traitors in this hell-bora 
conspiracy? Was it the North or South 
who sent the contributions to Ireland in 
their distress? (Hear, hear.) Was it the 
North or the South wdio put the flags at 
half-mast on the death of Ilavelock ? 
(cheers.) and tell me, gentlemen, who re- 
ceived the son of your (iueen with open 
arms, but the proud children of our northern 
country ? Roiling over with goodwill to 
England, we took the prince and embraced 
him, because we loved this old land, and its 
mighty associations, f Cheers.) AVe loved 
to mix our history and lose it even in yours. 



48 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



(Cheers.) "Wc loved your Christian Queen 
ami showed all these things in the warm 
and honest reception we gave her son. 
(Loud cheers.) All this was in the North, 
but when he crossed the border into the 
slave country, he hastened away quickly for 
fear of repeated insult ! Yes, gentlemen, it 
was in the capital of the so-called Confede- 
rate States, liichmond, that the Prince of 
AVales, feared the action of the mob, and 
saw for the first time that he was not wel- 
come in the land where once his ancestors 
ruled. (Hear, and true.) Knowing then, 
that all these acts of violence and hostility 
against England came from the South, you 
can imagine the disgust of tlie North at 
reading the Timca day after day, and the 
T.legraph, the Herald, the Chronicle, and 
nearly all the entire British press, encourag- 
ing the rebels on in their unchristian work ! 
England has made a mistake— a fatal mistake. 
To make sure that 1 am not in the wrong, 
I am preparing a book of opinions of the 
pros? — extracts from speeches of members 
of Parliament and the Ministry, which will 
])rove the hostility of England against the 
Federal power. Air. Bell asks, how could 
we h:ive done otherwise than remain neu- 
tral 'i But 1 maintain that you are not neu- 
tral. When you find two boys at blows you 
must not forget that while you do not enter 
the ring, the more you hurrah for Bill the 
stronger it makes him, and the more it dis- 
courages Joe. You cheer one side continually 
and hiss the other, and call it neutrality. 
(Hear, hear, and applause.) However, it 
has taught America one lesson — that is, not 
to put her trust in princes, (laughter,) but to 
rely on her own strong arm. It has opened 
her eyes to many things, but none more im- 
portant than this — namely, that England 
may war with Russia, France with Austria, 
and all Europe may be l)lazing away with 
the flash of musketry, the clank of armor, 
and the sound of cannon without America 
licing affected. But when America, desirous 
of showing off her military nature, gets \\\) a 
little national sham fifiht within her own 
borders in three months' time with a million 
of soldiers, fires olf a million of rifles, dis- 
charges a million of revolvers, and has her 
urlilicry booming on every hill — 1 say, 
when the American i)eople, in the absence 
of forciiiu war, get up u graiiil review and 
kill ten thousand traitors on llie cliavqis ilu 
Mara of the Potomac, all the world tremb- 
lingly stops to gaze, and all the world's 
commerce Itecomes deranged. (Hear, hear.) 
Europe may fight, but America cares not. 
America ])lays with firearms to keep her 
hand in, and jMirojie is jiale for fear, for it 
ha.s come to pass that the commerce of the 
United .States with Europe sums u)> each 
year one hundred inillions of pounds stcrl- 
imj. 

Stop this commerce for twelve months, 



and millions here are thrown out of employ- 
ment. (Hear.) Even my friend, Mr. Wood, 
will feel it, in the absence of orders from 
the shipyards of the North. (Hear, hear, 
and laughter.) I have listened with earnest- 
ness to the bold words of Mr. Morse. I 
meet him to-night for the first time, and I 
congratulate at last our people at having a 
live consul to represent them in London. 
(Cheers.) We have had enough of dead 
men, God knows. (Cheers.) His Union 
sentiments are refreshing. Now we shall 
have no more treason-hatching in the Ameri- 
can consulates of England. His predecessor 
was buying muskets all the time — so was it 
at Liverpool, and so was it with the Paris 
Embassy- — the flag was outraged, the con- 
suls and the ministers are guilty of high 
treason, and should suffer the doom of 
traitors. No man dared to speak out until 
the Russian Ambassador arrived. I endorse 
every word of Cassius M. Clay, and wish all 
our representatives were equally national ! 
I say, I welcome our new consul, and give 
him a cordial shake of the hand over his 
brave, bold words for the land I love ; and 
you, too, my eloquent friend from Georgia — 
whose name shall not go into the journals, 
for I would not have your children who 
remain in the State suffer for your love of 
the Union — you, too, we welcome for your 
honest defence of the nation — you have 
astonished many present by your graphic 
description of affairs in the South. I knew 
it must be so ; 1 knew that the Southern 
country was full of Union men, who will 
spring around the flag the moment our 
forces land in Savannah ! (Yes, and Cheers.) 
Secession, in your part of the country, is 
fashionable ; no wonder the fair Southern 
ladies are enraged ; for all their crinoline 
was used up long ago, and they do not make 
it in the South. (Laughter.) How can they 
be out of fashion ? They believed that Mrs. 
Davis would hold levees in Washington ; 
they believed that Mr. Walker would raise 
the traitor's flag on the capitol ; but when 
the Truth breaks upon them, what a sensa- 
tion of shame awaits them ; for it must be a 
terrible thing to realize that they have been 
the wives and daughters and sisters who 
have made red so many battle fields. It 
looks to me, I am sorry to say, as though 
the rel)ellion was nearly dead — the war 
nearly over. (Oh.) ] want it to last another 
year. (Oh, and No.) I want Europe and 
England to know us better, and another 
year's war will best explain our strength. I 
have a policy of my own. Away with free 
trade these distracted days. Let England 
have her own laws and let America have 
hers. You may not agree with me — few 
people do— (laughter) — but nevertheless I 
have opinions, and I'll express them, even 
if the distinguished archangel who got put 
out of Court on a memorable occasion had 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



49 



his carria(i:e at the door. (Cheers and loud 
laughter.) Here is my platform: Take 
Japan and China for a model ; that is, live a 
few years by ourselves — (cheers) — clap an 
export duty on our cotton and our tobacco, 
and double the Morrill Tariff. (" Oh," and 
" No, no.") Destroy the port of Charleston 
• — make a Sebastopol of its forts, and block 
up its channels, and give Beaufort or 
Savannah all its commerce. Partition the 
iStatc and ink-blot her name out of the map. 
(Hear.) Build the Pacific Railroad and 
establish a line of swift steamers between 
San Francisco and China. Make New York 
the stock market of the world. Establish 
military schools ; have a decent army — it 
looks respectable when you want a review. 
(Laughter.) Augment the navy, and give 
Spain a hammering for her impudence in 
landing in St. Domingo. (Hear.) AVait till 
she gets into Mexico — under the guarantee 
of France and Spain, and get the military 
roads built, then let the Northern and 
\ Southern army close up and take Cuba as a 
dependency, and carry out the Monroe doc- 
trine. (Hear, hear.) AVe want more room. 
(Laughter.) "VVe are getting cramped and 
crowded, and we must have an outlet for the 
rush of emigrants that will pour into the 
country when we declare peace. Put a 
discriminating duty on, shutting out English 
goods, if England continues to side with the 
rebels. Don't get alarmed, gentlemen, you 
know it is all fun. (Loud laughter.) You 
know you call me eccentric, and I must keep 
up the illusion. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) 
England has slept in the middle of the bed 
long enough ! (Loud laughter.) The times 
are changing. The speck on the horizon is 
already bigger than an ox-cart. (Laughter.) 
The fires of free opinions have been smoul- 
dering in Europe for nearly fifteen years. 
Poor Piland is in sackcloth and ashes! 
Hungary sleeps awakingly, and will shortly 
spring upon the enemy's camp, when Cap- 
rera's chief will land in Venice. France 
groans under a disordered commerce and a 
diseased finance. Europe has enough to 
look after without troubling herself with 
America. Let America lock her gates for 
a while — economize — buy no foreign fabrics 
— live within herself — manufacture her own 
cotton, and take the profit we have so long 
given to England. Our strength is shown 
by this contest. Six hours of such rebellion 
would have changed a dynasty in France ; 
' six days in Austria, or Prussia, or Spain. 
Six weeks without a Ministry would capsize 
the English Constitution; but after six 
months of preparation, America begins to 
show her strength. It was a clever move of 
the President, in this great national game of 
chess, to give up Fort Sumter — always give 
away a castle to checkmate your opponent. 
(Hear, hear.) The Cabinet have done nobly 
— Seward upholds our foreign relations and 



proved himself the man we knew he was 
So has Chase — and Welles, with his five 
hundred ships of war, armed to the teeth ; 
and Cameron, too, with his half a million of 
fighting men. (Hear and cheers.) I don't 
believe the reports of corruption in the 
departments ; they are circulated by rebel 
spies and enemies of the country. I have 
faith in Seward and Cameron and AVelles 
and Chase, and know the President is an 
honest man. (Loud cheers.) I like the 
strong measures of the administration. In 
times like these one cannot do things too 
firmly — act first and apologize afterwards — 
strain a point in the Constitution if neces- 
sary to save a nation — over with the spies — 
down with the traitorous women — down 
with the vile hoards who invest the country 
with their treason — macadamize Fort L;i- 
fayette with the best bones of the land if 
they have crystalized into Patricides. The 
civil power is nothing when a country is to 
be saved — give us martial law — overboard 
with Habeas Corpus Act, and command 
obedience with the sword and the gallows. 
Yes, gentlemen, to put down treason, I 
would put on the thumbscrew. Out with 
the guillotine — raise the incjuisition, and 
enforce the law, at whatever cost of money 
or men. Break up the printing press — shut 
the mouth that dare to breathe against the 
"Army of the Constitution." Who thinks 
of saving brush and comb, sponge and towel, 
when the house is in flames? Who stops 
for overcoat and carpet-bag when the ship 
is in the breakers? Who thinks of wearing 
white kids when shells are exploding in the 
drawing-room ? Let the administration save 
the nation, and overlook any little things 
that may have been omitted. (Hear, hear.) 
Christians hate Iscariot — Romans despise 
Cataline — Americans loathe the name of 
Arnold. So will the Southern pirate chief- 
tains in their exile be marked with contempt 
by the patriots of the Constitution ! Sepa- 
ration is impossible ! Annihilation absurd! 
Who ever heard of twenty millions being 
annihilated? America must change her 
policy. Be more republican — (laughter) — 
lest aristocratic overcome our modesty, and 
not be too religious about forms. America 
fights with her own men — our soldiers go to 
battle for glory, law, liberty — Europeans 
fight for pay. Ours is a volunteer army ; 
we have no Hessians or hired battalions. 
Our thirty million loan so readily taken by 
our people is nothing to what we can do ; 
England spends that sum every year on 
army and navy. The days of Perry and 
Decatur and Paul Jones, are to be revived. 
The fleets are off — a new set of tactics — 
take Hatteras ! — send back the North Caro- 
lina troops, telegraphs the governor. Take 
Savannah ! — send back the Georgian regi- 
ments, telegraphs the general in command 
to Beauregard; — take New Orleans! — send 



60 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



back the Louisiana contingent, and shortly 
Bcaureg:!ird is left hi<!h and dry without an 
army, having reduced Virginia to a desert, 
like a vineyard destroyed by locusts. Where 
is Beauregard? — alone, uncared for, for- 
gotten. Where is Davis? — ill in mind, ill 
in body, the shattered frame l)attling with 
the diseased brain and the seared conscience. 
The North flourishes amid the clash of 
arms — stocks rising, bullion increasing, ships 
launching, factories building, corn shipping, 
while the iSouth is paralyzed, and England 



and the world wondering where it is all to 
end ! Why do consols droop day after day 
unless there is some terrible secret in Down- 
ing Street? Why does France borrow two 
millions from the Bank of England unless 
P'rance is about to lead an army somewhere ? 
Verily the times are changing; and it 
may turn out that America is not only the 
richest country, but possesses one-half the 
common sense, three-fourths the enterprise, 
and seven-eighths the beauty of the world ! 
(Laughter, and loud applause.) 



LETTER TO THE NEW YORK HERALD. 

[The following is the letter to the "New York Herald," which was so extensively copied throughout America 
and caused so much hostility against Mr. Train in England.] 



No. 18 St. James street, 1 
London, November 9, 1861. j 

AVhen steamships, owned by Englishmen, 
loaded by Englishmen, dispatched by Eng- 
lishmen, manned by Englishmen, continue 
to leave English ports, under English col- 
ors, under the very eyes of the American 
Legation and the English Foreign-oilice, 
full of goods contraband of war, in aid of 
those in open rebellion against the Federal 
government, when Lord Palmerston replies 
to Mr. Adams, "Yes, we know it — catch 
tliem if you can ;" when it becomes gen- 
erally known that the English army is se- 
cession, the English navy is secession, 
the English church is secession, the Eng- 
lish parliament is secession, the Englisli 
aristocracy is secession, the English mer- 
cantile marine, and the English banker, are 
secession, as you may any day see by read- 
ing the secession articles in the English se- 
ce.-^sion — daily, weekly, and monthly — press. 
1 say, when you see the entire dress circle 
of England is secession to the back bone, it 
is time to declare, from personal observa- 
tion, that the English i)it is sound, and goes 
lor the Union to the last. 

'i'he boxes breathe hostility, but the gal- 
leries are true to the Union cause. 

War between England and America is 
absurd, simply because when the war cabinet 
declares war, the peace people will demand 
])eace. 'I'iie people of Kngland will not 
light the people of America ; but the leaders 
are doing tlieir best to egg them on to 
bloodshed. 'i"he driver of the stage coach 
can place all the passengers in the river if 
he cliooses. But the I'reniier fears that he 
cannot jump oil" in time to save his own 
neck. English politics are in a rotten state 
— nobody knows anybody, (iernian politics 
arc equally mixed. French politics are 
uiuddy. llussian politics are rather hazy. 



While American politics are divided into 
the party of traitors and the party of 
patriots. 

There are more of the former in Europe 
than the latter, I regret to say. Secession 
seems fashionable with many of our mer- 
chants and bankers abroad. They think it 
for their interest to be neutral, as they call 
it. 1 consider neutrality the basest kind of 
treachery. An open enemy is preferable to 
a neutral friend. The highwayman who 
demands your money or your life, in open 
road, is nobler than the scamp who fires at 
you from behind a tree, and robs you af- 
terwards. 

England's neutral position is contemptible. 
I have seen one, two, three vessels load 
under my very face with cannon, rifles, shoes 
and blankets, for the southern conspirators. 

Tessier took in eighteen large rifled guns, 
two 120 pound Whitworths, 7500 Enfield, 
18,000 Belgian rifies, 90,000 pairs of shoes, 
and 90,000 overcoats in the "Bermuda." 
'J'he " Fingal" left the Spanish shore a 
fortnight since with a duplicate cargo. The 
"Thomas Watson," I am glad to see, has 
been sunk off Charleston. One or two 
other vessels are now due at the pirate ren- 
dezvous. But this letter, made public 
through your columns, is to make sure and 
stop the " Gladiator," eighty horse power, 
six hundred tons ; steams nine and a half 
knots ; old Lisbon screw steam packet; sold 
by Bake, Adam & Co. ; loaded by the Pri- 
vate Joint Stock Company (unlimited) of 
English and Southern secessionists, with six 
hundred cases rifles, cannon, shoes, blankets, 
provisions, and a large quantity of gunpow- 
der, which she took in last night at Erith. 
She clears to-day for Teneriffe and Nassau. 

1 have given all these particulars to A. B. 
Marchand, Esq., commander United States 
war steamship "James Adger," just arrived 



train's union speeches. 



51 



t Southampton t)ia Qnoerstown and Fal- 
mouth, one hundred and sixty-three men 
•and nine truns, who is fully alive to capturing 
tliis English pirate. Estimated value of 
cargo, sixty thousand pounds sterling — hav- 
ing on board the requisites for an army of 
twenty-five thousand men. The chief men 
in the company are reported to be Sabel 
(passenger and ship broker, Liverpool), 
Capt. I). W. Hughes (southerner), Prieleard 
(Charleston firm of Frazer. Newhehn & Co., 
Liverpool), Bake Adams & (yo. (purchasers 
and dispatchers of the steamer), and Isaac 
Campbell & Co. (army outfitters, Jermyn 
street, London). The business is done in 
shares, and is so profitable, that, if two ships 
are taken, the " Bermuda's " profit will 
cover the loss of th^ others. Capt. Bird 
will go in command, Ilarrop as mate, Hughes 
as supercargo ; bales and cases marked W. 
D. H. in a triangle beneath. 

If your gunboats get this information on 
the arrival of this mail, they can — in case 
she escapes the "James Adger " — catch her 
at Nassau. There they will, no doubt, dis- 
charge into schooners, not wishing so many 
eggs in one basket. She will be twenty days 
in getting out — ample time to catch her. 

The foregoing facts may be relied upon 
as far as possible. A detective watches all 
their movements, and these pirate merchants 
may possibly find out that they are watched 
and ail their plans known by some of the 
loyal Anu'ricans in England. 

England permits these ships to leave. 
Yet last March, you remember, the British 
government seized the cargoes of arms dis- 
patched from Italy to the Dardanelles, even 
before she knew, or yet knows, anything of 
their projected destination. But when the 
munitions of war are against the government 
of Washington, liOrd John Russell writes 
to Hayman, of Liverpool, that they must 
take upon themselves all the risk of the 
hazardous enterprise. 

Free flag covers free goods. But rifles, 
cannon and gunpowder, are not free goods 
when bound to the American coast where 
war is raging against the government. 

England recognizes the United States 
government, and is bound to give moral, if 



England ambitious to be the fitting-out shop 
of all the filibustering nations of the world ? 
Such conduct only prolongs the contest, re- 
tards the arrival of cotton, postpones a 
return of reciprocal commerce. 

Cunard refused war supplies in his steam- 
ers for the North. Sodidlnman. Buthere, 
in open day, ships load for the South in sight 
of Downing street, in the middle of the 
Thames. If these things go on so unblush- 
ingly, how long, pray, will it be before 
Entrland and America will add to the horror 
of the contest by a hand-in-haiid engagement 
between themselves? Cotton really appears 
to be king. England blows hot and blows 
cold, always taking the weakest side, simply 
to bring down the strongest. 

I learn that the secessionists are ne- 
gotiating for the " Punjaub" and "Assaye," 
1800 tons each, eight hundred horse power, 
Malabar teak, three deckers ; steam eleven 
to fourteen knots ; would cost to build 
$1,200,000 ; price asked for £80,000. They 
are East India men-of-war, and government 
asks bonds for .SSOO.OOO that they should 
not go to America What does this mean ? 
Government has also lately sold, or offered 
to sell, nine condemned sloops of war, such 
as the " Carysfort," to a party who is said 
to have sold them to the southern navy de- 
partment. 

The Tim''s leads off in abusing Lord 
LyoRS for throwing himself open to such a 
rasping as Secretary Seward gave him on 
the interpretation of the American Consti- 
tution. Bad grammar, bad diplomacy, bad 
taste, was met by sound history, stul)born 
fact, and patriotic logic. Hurrah for the 
Union, the Constitution, and the Country. 

The cotton famine has saved the manu- 
facturers from rain, and put the burthen 
upon the masses. The world's hongs were 
stocked with Manchester goods, and another 
year of plenty of cotton would have ruined 
half Lancashire. High prices of cotton on 
hand clears otf nearly all their renewed 
bills. 

Gkokok Francis Train. 
P. S. — Ship had not cleared up to two 
o'clock, p. M. Sails Monday for Teneriffe, 
more will follow. I am told that $2,000,000 



not physical support to our Legation. Is I have been deposited for similar cargoes. 



CIYIL WAR n AMERICA. 

\^From the London American of November 27, 1861.] 



The Staffordshire papers give full reports 
of Mr. Train's address on the American 
question. We do not endorse his senti- 
ments about the American Minister's Peace 
platform at the Lord Mayor's dinner — be- 
lieving that Mr. Adams' speech was for con- 



cilliation. We make the following extract 
from the journals ; — 

On Thursday evening, Mr. G. F. Train, 
well known as the promoter and patentee 
of the Potteries Street Railway, addressed 
a large and highly respectable audience in 



52 



train's union SrEECHES. 



the Locture IT all at the Mechanics' Institu- 
tion, lIiiiiU'V. Nov. 2"), 18(51, on the subject 
of tlie civil war in America. A change was 
made tor a(hnission, the prolits being devoted 
to the benefit of the Borough Ragged School 
and the Bryan-street Ragged School. A 
model of the street railway about which Mr. 
Train had promised to speak at the concln- 
clusion of his lecture on the American war, 
was placed on the platform for exhibition. 
The Mayor of Ilauley (li. Boothroyd, Esq.,) 
jtresided, and among tliose on the platform 
and in the Ixxly of the Hall were Mr. G. F. 
Train ; Mr. Starl)uck (Managing Director of 
the Surrey Side Street Railway, liOndon); 
Mr. Hathaway (Street Railway Contractor, 
America) ; AV. Webberley, Esq., Chief 
Bailifll' of Longton ; Aid. Dimmock ; Aid. 
Keeling; Mr. H. T. Bodley; Mr. J. Macln- 
tvre; Mr. (i. Serireant ; Mr. C J. Walker; 
Mr. K. Walley ; Mr. J. Forbes ; Mr. E. AU- 
Init: .Mr. J. S. Forljes ; Mr. J. Webberley; 
Aid. Ridgway; Mr H. Pidduck ; Mr. C. 
Jones; Mr. Cuntiiugham. etc., itc. 

'I'lie Chairnum. in opeiting the proceed- 
ings, said they had the pleasure of meeting 
that evening to hear some remarks upon 
America t)y an American. America was a 
country in which they all felt a peculiar in- 
terest. He dare say the majority of them 
had either relatives, friends, or acquaint- 
ruices in that country, and they could not 
say that of any other country in the world. 
Circumstances like those would create in 
themapeculiar feeling of interest in America, 
and when they considered that they had ex- 
tensive commercial relations with that coun- 
try. America being by far our largest foreign 
customer, while England was the largest 
foreign customer for the products of America, 
how intinuitely the prosperity of the two 
nations was bound up together, and when 
they knew that at the present moment 
Hit.oOO.OdO of Americans were suffering 
under the calamity of civil war. he need 
scarcely say that anything relating to 
America had an uimsual interest just now. 
He need not say tliat there existed in this 
country the deepest regret that such a ca- 
lamity had falh-n upon a people who had 
pprung from ourselves, spoke our language, 
and between whom and ourselves a cordial 
intimacy had always existed. (Applause.) 

.Mr. Train who was very hoarse, said he 
was not lit to speak, still he could not see 
why he shoubl apologize for having caught 
cold. (Laughter and hear.) He would, 
however, tell them what lie had been doing 
for the last few days, and then, if he did not 
e.vactiy come up to the mark, they would 
excuse him. On Sunday, night at half-past 
nine, lie left for Darlington, where lie arrived 
at half-past four in the morning. He there 
met Willi Mr. I'ease, M. 1'., Mr. Macnay of 
the Darlington Jt. R., and Mr. Tliomi)son of 
the Darlington Times, and contracted for a 



street railway to be opened in three weeks — 
all the shares were taken by the towns- 
people. From there he went to London, 
and spoke at Aldershott, where he agreed 
to construct a street railway to the camp. 
(Hear.) He returned to town, and went to 
Southampton, where, on Wednesday night, 
he addressed an audience. He left South- 
ampton at half-past one that morning, for 
London, leaving there at tea o'clock, to 
meet a board of directors at Burslera at 
three, and here he was prompt at seven to 
meet his engagement with the good people 
of Hanley ! (Loud applause.) And there- 
fore, if he could not speak so well as might 
have been expected, it was on account of 
fatigue. No higher compliment could be 
paid to an American than for him to be in- 
vited by an English committee to address 
an English audience, for an English charity — 
on a subject dear to every true patriot — his 
native land. (Applause.) He had been 
told that some of them were secessionists, 
and that he must not be too strong in his 
arguments. If they thought he had come 
down to make a secession speech they were 
much mistaken. (Laughter.) He had come 
to speak of the United States of America. 
He had not come to represent Treason, but 
he would attempt to throw out a few ideas 
as to the state of things in America. He 
did not think English people understood the 
case at all. They knew nothing of America, 
and he was astonished at it, as he knew 
everything about Staffordshire long before 
he came there. Ten years ago, at the head 
of the house of Train & Co., Liverpool, he 
was shipping Statlbrdshire crates in the 
Boston packets, and in Boston he did nothing 
for five years but receive and discharge re- 
ceipts for crates and packages that came 
from Staffordshire. (Ap])lause.) He only 
wished they knew America as well as he 
knew England. He was going to tell them 
a few plain facts, and if spoken plainly they 
must put it down to his way of saying things. 
He had come there to represent the Union. 
(Applause.) He was a Northerner by birth 
and a Northerner by education. Still he had 
lived in the South. His lather, his mother 
and three of his sisters lay there victims 
of the fatal miasma which sometimes swept 
through the Southern cities. They left him 
when he was four years t)f age, and he then 
went to his Northern home, Some of his 
ancestors were from Baltimore and were 
slave owners, but he was a Northern man, 
and loved his country better than any other 
place on the globe. (Hear, hear.) The 
Americans were called proud people. They 
were proud and well they might be, for they 
never saw a nation rise so rapidly into power 
as America had done. (Applause.) He 
loved his native country, and when conspi- 
rators came in to divide it, and break up 
their nationality, he felt it time to speak. 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



53 



But what had astonished him was, that 
there should be any secessionists in Krifr- 
land. He thouL^ht England was a true 
country, true to herself and true to other 
nations. 

Mr. Train continued — But you have not 
been true to us— be not surprised then if 1 
speak in earnest — if I talk with emphasis — 
for I feel every word I say. You call us 
proud — we are. You call us sensitive — you 
are right again. So proud we will receive 
no dictation from other nations — so sensi- 
tive we will sujiport our flag or perish in the 
attempt. (Applause.) England did not 
understand us l)C'fore the rebellion, she does 
not understand us now, but the time is not 
far off when she will know more of our 
geography, our history, our agriculture, our 
manufactures, our politics, and the extent 
of our .army and navy. Let me tell you 
what this rebellion is not. It is not a ques- 
tion of abolition as against slavery — (oh) — 
it is not the tariff agitation by protection 
against free trade — neither is it for subju- 
gation, for conquest, or for power — (hear, 
hear,) — but we are fighting for national life. 
(Cheers.) There is something terrible in 
the death of a great nation. We are fight- 
ing for our flag, and before we drop the 
weapons, M'e intend to prove to the world 
that we will have one Constitution, one 
Congress, one Country, and a flag to float 
over its capitol. (Cheers.) To-night I shall 
call things by their Christian names, a shovel 
will be named a shovel — a crate a crate — 
and a secessionist, a rebel, a renegade, and 
a traitor. (Hear, hear.) The (piestion in 
America was not one of abolition or of 
slavery. They must pardon him when he 
told them that they, in the North, when 
they talked of abolition, were no more in 
earnest than they (the English) were. (Oh! 
and laughter.) Had they not for forty years 
been studying the doctrines of Wil be force 
to graduate in favor of slavery! (Hear, 
hear.) Ask the apostle of PLxeter Hall why 
he makes such a clamor against slavery, 
when he wears a slave-grown cravat, slave- 
grown hose, a slave-grown shirt, sweetened 
his coffee with slave-grown sugar, smokes 
slave-grown tobacco, and makes a chimney 
of his nose with slave-grown snuff! (Loud 
laughter.) He believed all of them had par- 
taken of slave-grown corn, and about five 
and a-half millions sterling of their revenue 
went towards paying the expenses of this 
great empire, was obtained by a protective 
tariff on slave-grown tobacco. (Yes, and 
hear.) With such facts before them, how 
they dared speak to an American in opposi- 
tion to slavery he did not know. (Loud ap- 
plause.) He considered it the very sublimity 
of cheek. (Laughter and applause.) 'Jliey 
would hardly believe it, but the Ameri- 
cans were emphatically a modest people — 
(laughter) — that is, compared with the su- 



preme assumption of Englishmen — (oh !) — 
and if he felt or manifested any diffidence 
in addressing them, they must put it down 
to the national timidity which characterized 
his countrymen. (Renewed laughter.) He 
must tell them that he was astonished at 
•England's ignorance of America. They 
took everything that was good iu American 
Institutions and said it was English, while 
everything that was bad was purely trans- 
Atlantic. Their idea of a polished Ameri- 
can had been taken from the stage or from 
Punch. They fancied a long wiry fellow 
with striped trousers, a bowie-knife in one 
hand and a revolver in the other, a (juid of 
tobacco in his mouth and brandy smashers 
in his pocket — (loud laughter) — with no 
spittoon on the floor, and with his feet not 
upon the hearth. (Hear, hear.) That man, 
he assured them, was purely a Southern 
institution. (Hear, hear, and laughter ) 
They had no such men in the North. He 
had heard a deal of bowie-knives, and he 
was told there were plenty in Birmingham, 
but he could assure them he never saw one, 
and did not know what kind of a knife it 
was. (Oh!) You know nothing of our 
people. He was disgusted to hear a lady 
remark at a west-end party that an Ameri- 
can was below, and, on inquiry, to find that 
his distinguished countryman was as black 
as the ace of spades ! (Loud laughter.) 
You are from Boston, asked another. Yes. 
Do tell me if Boston is one of your skive 
States? (Laughter.) Tlie subscriber smiled. 
You may know a brother of mine in Ameri- 
ca ; but, as the lady gave no locality, he 
went on to say that in Wasliinglon, New 
York, arid Boston he was well acquainted, 
and asked. In what part,m idam, of America 
is your brother ? With an inimitable curtsey, 
In Brazil, she replied. (Loud laughter, and 
''Oh, oh.") An American dislikes to be 
complimented on speaking such good Eng- 
lish, when he knows he speaks better than 
they do in England. (" Oil." and applause.) 
The fact wa.-?, xVmericans were only English- 
men in another hemisphere, with superior 
education to themselves. (Laughter.) As 
he told them before the ([uestion at issue 
was not a question of abolition or of slavery. 
For twent}--five years they had been doing 
nothing but talking about negroes and black 
men, but they would excuse him if he stated 
his decided preference for white men, and 
that he liked white women better than black 
women. ( Laughter, and hear, hear.) He 
could assure them he would rather have one 
white child than a dozen negro babies. 
( Renewed laughter.) 'J'hat, of course, was 
only a matter of taste; but he found, on 
taking stock of the negroes, that they were 
altogether a ditt'erent kind of animal. Ue 
examined some 1,300 negro skulls the other 
day, and he was astonished to find, on meas- 
uring them, that, on the average, a negro 



54 



train's union speeches. 



possessed nine culiic inolies less brain than a 
Caucasian. (Hear, hear.) The nef^roes were 
a (Ijflerent people entirely, and the English 
dill not understand the question. They were 
always tellinir them what they had done in 
the West Indies, Imt he had made the dis- 
covery that the twenty millions they paid 
was only added to the national debt, and 
Knirland', with her usual modesty, treated 
tlie matter as a cash transaction, ( Hear 
and laughter.) He had also discovered that 
eitrhty four per cent, of the cotton received in 
Kngland was sent from America; hence, if 
tliey took two-thirds of the cotton, they owned 
two-thirds of every negro in the country. 
( .Vp])liiuse and laughter.) And he must tell 
them that if their worthy mayor stole a lot 
of pears, and their bishop ate of the fruit 
knowing it was stolen, he was equally guilty 
of the theft. ( Hear, hear.) Therefore, he 
told them it was not a question of abolition 
or slavery. Neither was it a question of free 
trade or protection. England is not a free- 
trade country, and never has been. It is all 
gammon aliout her free trade. ( Laughter.) 
'I'he other night Mr. Yancey made a speech 
•at Fishmongers' Hall about freedom of 
thought and freedom of speech in the South, 
but he could tell them that for thirty years 
there had been nothing of the kind in the 
country. (Hear, hoar.) The. Southerner 
came to New York, lectured in their halls, 
and bearded them in their homes, yet was 
treated with every ctuirtesy ; but when the 
Northerner went to the South he was muz- 
zled on the very threshold, insulted in every 
way. and did they not the other day take a 
IJritisii captain from his ship and tar and 
feather him on the cjuay at Mobile ? ( Hear, 
hear.) 'I'hey never did that in the North. 
When addressing an audience some days 
since, he asked them who sent those ship- 
loads of corn at the time of the Irish famine ? 
'I'hey did not come from the South. And 
let him tell them another thing. Americans 
loved England, her institutions, and her 
t^ueen. Tiiey waited long years for an 
o|)]iortunity to make ii demonstration, and 
when they sent the proud heir of these proud 
islands, was lie not received with an outburst 
of good feelings from the multitudes of the 
North country '{ ( Yes, and loud applause.) 
They couUi not say that was done for the 
almighty dollar. ( Apjdause.) But when 
the J'rmce of Wales crossed the border and 
went to I'lichmond, the so-called capital of 
the ('(infedcrate States, he was insulted in 
the very streets, and the Duke of Newcastle 
thought it prudent to get him out of the 
slave city as soon as possible. As he said 
before, the (|uc8li(in was not one of abolition 
or slavery, free trade or protection, but a 
(|ucstion of treason! — vile, unblushing trea- 
8(in. ( Hear, hear.) J>ut he would give them 
an illustration of the situation. Suppose 
Lord I'uhuerstoa at the head of a Liberal 



Government— a Liberal cabinet in power — 
saw by the signs of the times that a dissolu- 
tion would take place, and he should be 
ousted from office. He accordingly made his 
arrangements, and placed men of his owQ 
party at the head of every department in the 
country. He distributed all the arms in the 
Tower among his partizans, he placed his 
own friends at Woolwich and Portsmouth, 
he seized all the government funds, tampered 
with all the government offices, and when a 
dissolution came in the country by a unani- 
mous vote said they would have the Conser- 
vatives to rule them, but the Liberal party 
said nay, we will not give way to the ma- 
jority, but will have Manchester, Liverpool, 
Ireland, and other parts of the Empire. 
( Hear.) That was just what the Southern- 
ers had done in America, and he wanted to 
know how they could endorse such senti- 
ments. ( Hear, hear.) They had not un- 
derstood the position of things in America. 
The Northerners step by step and year by 
year had always been their friends. Who 
had consumed the enormous quantities of 
manufactured goods which had been sent 
from this country ? There were twenty mil- 
lions of people in the North, and but ten 
millions in the South, and it was the North 
that had consumed them, and the North had 
also furnished the money to plant the cotton 
in the South. ( Hear.) The North had all 
the manufacturing interests of the country. 
The mechanics came from the North. They 
could not get a bale of cotton from the 
Southern plantations, unless it was moved by 
Northern capital, and when it was in a 
Southern port it could not go further with- 
out the aid of N orthcrn ships. ( Hear, hear.) 
The thousands of miles of railroad had been 
built by Northern men and paid for by 
Northern money. They cannot make a lo- 
comotive, nor brooms, nor car wheels, nor 
steam boats, nor shoes. ( Hear.) Whisky 
that bears the same position in the Southern 
country that beer does in England, wine in 
France, arrack in India, all comes from the 
North. They cannot even get drunk with- 
out Northern assistance. (Loud laughter.) 
Their bacon, butter, beef, and pork all come 
from the West. They do not even raise 
enough corn, or hay, or vegetables, for their 
own use. Exchange is always against them. 
Cotton is bought by dratt, usually at sixty 
days. They get cash for raw material, while 
the North trusts from six to eighteen months. 
They are now lighting on Northern capital. 
'I'hey owed £4(),()()U,()U0 of private debts, 
which they repudiated. (Shame.) The first 
basis of a gentleman is mercantile honor. 
(Applause.) A Itout Fort Sumter days, a New 
Orleans' merchant telegraphed to his old cor- 
respondent in New York for 1,0(J0 barrels 
of Hour. " Eat your cotton, darn you," was 
the emphatical reply. (Laughter and oh!) 
What has the South accomplished thus far? 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



65 



Did they not commence as Napier did before 
going to Cronstadt? — yet they have not ac- 
complished even as much as the old admiral. 
("Laup;htor.) In forty-four fie^hts the Gov- 
ernment have fairly woii thirty nine. ( Oh !) 
The South claim that 10,000 men took ninety 
at Sumter, and assassinated Ellsworth at 
Alexandria, and a Bull Run. (Here Mr. 
Train was interrupted for some time with 
hear, hear, lauphter, cheers, and What of 
Bull Run ?) At Bull Run the great fact was 
proved that I have always failed to convince 
Englishman, that the Americans were not 
troubled with the gout ? ( Loud cheers and 
continued laughter.) No — the Bull Run af- 
fair was a desperate battle. The Federal 
troops marched fifteen miles without food, 
before the battle, and fought like demons 
all day — (Hear, and applause) — and had 
won the victory when a portion of the army 
not engaged were broken by the baggage 
wagons galloping through for ammunition — 
and hence the panic. ( Hear.) I believe 
the rebel army were going at the same pace 
towards Richmond — ( loud laughter ) — and 
in charity to our troops that moved back- 
ward faster than the laws of brave men al- 
low, I believe that they thought that some 
of the rebel army had got behind them, so 
they rushed back to the attack. ( Loud 
laughter and oh.) Munchausen Russell was 
the first to get to Washington in order to 
give an eye-witness picture of a battle that 
he not only never saw, but was not within 
some miles of, (Hear, hear.) Like the 
hound sent to clear the field of wolves, the 
latest report was, by the old farmer, who 
said they were going about forty miles an 
hour : but if anything the dog was a leetle 
ahead! (Loud laughter.) Davis, himself, 
thought it a drawn battle — see his dispatch 
that night. Again, take Ball's Bluff, there 
was some terrible fighting. The Massachu- 
setts boys faced death in every way. Rifles 
to the right of them, rifles to the left of them, 
rifles in front of them volleyed and thun- 
dered, but they sought death rather than dis- 
honor — ( applause) — and fought one against 
ten. I claim Ball's Bluff a great victory for 
northern bravery. ( Hear.) Yes, wherever 
Northerh patriot has met Southern traitor 
he has won the victory against great odds. 
( Hear.) The South commenced with loud 
boasts, but have been penned up like so many 
rats — yes, pi-rates in a cage. ( Laughter.) 
On the other hand, what has the North not 
done ? Heenan and Sayers trained for many 
months before the fight. They were eating 
raw meat and striking sand bags for weeks, 
and so America has only been putting her- 
self in sparring trim. The Southerners 
being our own people we commenced with 
gloves, but wait till we commence the mill. 
(Hear, hear.) They say that we have done 
nothing ? It is nothing to improvise an army 
of 500,000 men out of our farmers, me- 



chanics, and tradesmen in three months? 
( Hear, hear.) Is it nothing to cut a navy of 
.500 vessels of war out of the forest since 
Sumter? ( Loud applause.) Is it nothing 
to make 4.000 miles of coast air-tight and 
shut up every bale of cotton ? (Hear.) Is 
it nothing to draw a line-of-battle 1,500 miles 
from Hatteras to St. Louis, so that no rebel 
can pass except as a prisoner of war ? ( A p- 
plause.) Is it nothing to take up £.30,000,000 
(Jovernment loan, and £20,000,000 more 
State loans in four mom hs ? ( I^cud cheers.) 
Perhaps England is right — it is nothing — 
nothing like what the United States can do 
when aroused to action against a foreign 
foe, instead of crushing out domestic con- 
spiracy ! ( Hear, hear.) Wait till you hear 
from the fleet, the largest the world ever 
saw. That Norman party at Hastings was 
nothing, and the Spanish Armada was com- 
posed of one-horse frigates. ( Laughter and 
cheers.) Caesar's Donkey Expedition over 
the Rubicon was a disgrace to the civilized 
age in which he lived. ( Hear and laughter ) 
England's neutrality in this matter consists 
in assisting in every way the rebels. It was 
on the 23rd of April that Fort Sumter 
surrendered, and on the 6th of May England 
showed such unnecessary haste to acknow- 
ledge the South as beligerents. That was 
what he objected to on the question of neu- 
trality. If they were neutral, why did they 
not show it in a practical way? The other 
day he went to the American minister, Mr. 
Adams, and asked him if he knew the ship 
Gladiator was in the London docks, loaded 
to the brim with 1,000 cases of rifles and 
amunition, with cannon and blankets, and 
shots and powder. The goods are shipped 
in broad day-light — English ship, English 
captain, English crew, you may go any day 
and see the goods go out from'isaacs, Oara- 

bell & Co., German Street, marked ^^.j^-^ 

Did not the Bermuda take 90.000 pairs of 
shoes, 90,000 blankets, and large quantities 
of munitions of war ? Has not the Fingal 
sailed with a similar cargo? Is not the 
Pacific now loading at Southampton with 
another death cargo? (Hear.) And yet 
this is England's neutrality. ( Hear.) 

In the Canadian rebellion all arms were 
stopped by the American Government on 
the frontier. Why, then, does not Lord 
John Russell take similar action ? No, the 
fact is England, ignorant of our position, 
thinks she can sell more goods to two Gov- 
ernments than to one. Yes, Lord John 
Russell said he could not prevent it, they 
must catch her if they could, and that was 
their neutrality. (Shame.) They ought to 
stop the vessel on their shores, and they 
might save 10,000 lives. England is Seces- 
sion ; her army is Secession, her navy is 
Secession, her church is Secession, and her 



56 



train's union speeches. 



bankers vote for treason ; her merchants 
cheer for traitors, and her statesmen endorse 
all, and even laud the sentiment. (No, and 
hear.) So as England cheers for treason, let 
B\e vary mj' discourse and cheer with her. 
Ilurr.ili for treason ! Ireland awake — arise 
— strike apaiu, O'Brien and your compeers, 
for England decides for treason ! Chartists 
ef '-18 leave once more your hiding-places 
and create anarchy in this fair land, for 
England offers up her prayers for treason ! 
"Where is Pajuneau and M'Kenzie ? Lose 
no time Canadians — you are nobody now — 
be up and doing, for England believes in 
treason ! Nena Sahib come forth from the 
jungle, and seek another Cawnpore, and be 
successful, since England has decided that 
treason is lawful and should receive support! 
Yes, Mr. Mayor, what is wrong with us con- 
uot bo right with you. (Hear, hear.) You 
love your country — I love mine — and it chills 
my heart to hear your leaders all siding with 
the traitors, who, when they found they 
could not reign in Heaven determined to rule 
in Hell — (hear) — our Government stands 
almost alone among your statesmen. The 
I'uke of Argyle says some brave words for 
us, so did the China member for Brighton ; 
and Mr. lia.xter spoke kindly, and the Daily 
News befriends us, and the Morning Star ; 
but what are these few advocates and friends 
among so many enemies ? Sir John Bowring 
dares to compare such men, as Davis, Cobb, 
and Floyd, with the nation's benefactors, 
"Washington and Jefferson and Madison — 
(shame,) — and Beresford Hope disgraces all 
the rules of fair debate in calling the North 
a hot-bed of anarchy ! — General Scott a 
second-rate soldier ! — Secretary Seward an 
unprincipled jjolitician, and the President of 
our nation an incapable pretender ! (Shame.) 
How singular that all these gentlemen(?) 
volunteer their advice to the North. No- 
body has any counsel for the rebels. "What 
they do must of course be proper. They 
can rob and violate and murder — they can 
repudiate and lynch and lie — and their base 
metal, forsooth, can i)ass for the purest gold. 
(■• No." and hear, hear.) This same Beres- 
tord Hope is the man who testified before 
Mr. Yardlcy that the flange of the Bayswa- 
ter rail was two inches high, while the rail 
ilsdf was about a foot and a half! (Hear, 
and laughter.) On examination, 1 saw that 
he carries an eye-glass— hence his short- 
sighted view of American politics. (Hear, 
and laughter.) It is sufhcient for our pco- 
j)l(; to know that this slanderer and libeler 
IS about the greatest failure that ever lost 
his seat in the House of Commons. (Ap- 
jilauso.) Is not England a model nation? 
(Hear, hear.) Does not the Englishman 
look upon his Island liomi; as the nc plus 
iiUra of kingdoms — (applause,) — the sine 
fjua non of all his ho])e, the ultima thule of 
ni3 desire? (Hear and laughter.) Yet Eng- 



land recommends peaceful separation ! In 
this case we prefer England's example to 
her advice. (Laughter.) The way to make 
the church triumphant is to make the church 
militant. She puts down rebellion with the 
bayonet. 'Twas the sword gave England to 
the Norman. 'Twas the bayonet that con- 
solidated France. England subjected Ireland 
with the sword. 'Twas the sword that con- 
quered India. 'Twas the sword that forced 
China into treaties. 'Twas the sword that 
compelled George the Third to release his 
grip from the throat of the thirteen colonies 
he had outraged. (Hear, hear.) The ballot 
box is good — the council chamber is effec- 
tive, but for strong diseases, what remedy is 
there like the sword ? (Hear.) "Why make 
an exception in the case of the American 
Revolution ? Secession is separation — sep- 
aration is dissolution, — severance between 
North and South is severance between East 
and West — State from State would be fol- 
lowed by city from city — and England, in- 
stead of dealing with one strong Government 
and one custom-house, would have her vexa- 
tious diplomacy with a dozen petty powers. 
(Hear, hear.) England says that North and 
South are composed of different elements ; 
so are parts of all nations. Scotland is 
Presbyterian and England Episcopalian, yet 
are they not yet united ? (Hear.) Does 
not Catholic Ireland's minority give way to 
Protestant England's majority ? A word on 
Cotton. Mr. Train said they did not get 
their cotton from the South ; they got it from 
the North, and if they wanted to get cotton 
they must give their moral sympathy to the 
North. Applause.) The civil war had been 
al)ont the best thing that could happen to 
England. Their Lancashire and Yorkshire 
spinners had been going too fast, and I saw 
when looking into the Hongs of the East in 
my travels, that they had completely macad- 
amized the world with cotton manufactures, 
and what would have been the consequence? 
He believed nine out of every ten of their 
cotton manufacturers would have been ruined 
— the Southerners had done the most stupid 
thing in the world. They had kept their 
cotton on the plantations, so that they will 
have two crojjs in the market at once. ( Hear.) 
The Ijaiicashire and Yorkshire manufac- 
turers byeconomy, by working half or quarter 
time, would get rid of the old stores and 
have a clear market, and before another 
year — (hear and applause) — if not sooner, 
would be able to get cotton at M. or 4rf. 
per lb. (Applause.) The English talked 
of being independent of America for cotton, 
but they could not. (Hear, hear.) They 
had never been known to employ their own 
capital when they could get others to em- 
ploy theirs for them, and did they think any 
prudent merchant would order cotton from 
India to arrive six months hence. Fibre 
too short in India — sugar pays better in the 



train's union speeches. 



57 



West Indies than cotton — China won't — 
Brazil can't. They could not get it from 
Australia for want of labor, and they would 
not have the Chinese in the country, and 
they could not get it from Turkey or Kgypt, 
because the natives were too indolent to 
cultivate it. (Loud applause.) After six- 
teen years talk, what had they done? If 
they intended to do anything, why did they 
not scud out money to India? The Ameri- 
cans had got cotton, and they intended to 
sell it to them. (Hear, hear.) He wanted 
them to be the friends of America, and buy 
their cotton at good prices. (Applause.) 
England can't get loose. 'Tis absurd to 
hear her talk about getting supplies else- 
where. (Oh !) The Manchester Cotton 
Company (£80,000), Jamaica Cotton Com- 
pany (£.3,000), British Cotton Company 
(£2,900), arc powerful competitors, are they 
not, to the American Cotton Company, 
capital £800,(100,000? (Cheers and laugh- 
ter.) To be sure this capital goes to bed at 
night and gets up in the morning, and being 
on legs may walk ofl' some day. (Hear, hear, 
and hiughtcr.) He maintained that Mr. 
Yancey talked treason the other night at 
the Fishmongers' Hall, while the American 
Minister was talking moral treason at the 
Mayor's dinner. He talked of peace. There 
is no peace. There can be no peace with- 
out submission to the Federal power. Mr. 
Adams is clever, accomplished, and made a 
beautiful speech ; but how could he talk 
peace when the country is at war — when the 
President and Cabinet are daily fitting out 
expeditions? Peace enervates — corrupts — 
ruins nations. War purifies society and 
makes it stronger. You all know how im- 
portant it is for a married couple to have an 
occasional shindy before going to bed — 
(loud laughter)— ,it makes them always so 
happy in the morning. (Hear and applause.) 
1 have always thought Adam and Fjve were 
fortunate in being S7iaked out of Paradise — 
(laughter.) — before their honeymoon had 
terminated in the usual matrimonial row ? 
(Laughter.) Too much prosperity would 
send any happy party before Sir Cresswell 
Cresswell. (Hear.) Nothing, as Brougham 
says, like economizing domestic felicity to 
prevent satiety. Love in a cottage is ab- 
surd. (Laugher.) So I hope, next time, Mr. 
Adams, instead of being all sunshine, will 
fire away a little, in order to show that he is 
capable of ruling the tempest and riding on 
the storm. Mr. Yancey only begged that 
he might not be called a rebel, and for the 
North to give him belligerent rights ; and, 
for once, a<lmitted his Southern negroes 
superior to his Malta jackasses ! — (laughter) 
— for did you not see in his speech that he 
said there "were 10,000,000 of us in the 
South? (Yes! Yes! and hear.) This is 
the first time that he ever saw the negroes 
placed upon a par with rebels. (Hear, hear.) 



Mr. Yancey's speech was feeble, and looks 
very much as though the "Knights of the 
Golden Circle," who have created this foul 
conspirac)', would shortly l)elong to the 
liand of the Hempen Cord 1 (1 fear and oh !) 
The contest must be short. (Jeneral Drunk- 
enness, General Bragg, and General Bank- 
ruptcy are not powerful enough to cope with 
General Banks, (ieneral Hunter, and Gene- 
ral McClellan. (Cheers.) 

Ve sons of Libnrty awake. 

Your hearths and altars are at stake ; 

Arise I arise ! for Freedom's sake. 

And strike witli George McClellan ! 

(Loud applause.) Mr. Train here became 
enthusiastic for his young chief: — 

Behold, the hero now appears. 
The chief of llve-and-thiny years — 
On whom there rests a nation's cheers: 
Ilurrah for George McClellan ! 

(Cheers.) 

Our "Western Eagle is not dead ; 
Aijain his giant winijs are spread. 
To sweep upon that traitor's head^ 
That traitor Jetl'erson Davis ! 

(Laughter and loud applause.) 

What soil but spurns the traitor slave— 
Oh! Liberty is for the brave ; 
Our cry is Union or the grave, 

And on with George McClellan ! 

(Mr. Train spoke two hours with great en- 
ergy, and concluded amid loud and continued 
cheering.) 

A distinguished gentleman from the South, 
whom Mr. Train introduced as a good speci- 
men of a Southern rebel, gave a most elo- 
quent exposition of affairs iu the Southern 
country. We would give his speech had he 
not requested, for cogent reasons, its omis- 
sion. 

Mr. Train asked the Chairman to invite 
the meeting to express its opinion, in refer- 
ence to the civil war, by replying to the 
following question: — "Who are the most 
worthy of the sympathy of England, the 
20,000,000 Unionists in the country, or the 
few hundred traitors who would destroy it?" 
(Hear.) 

The Chairman said he did not think 
Englishmen had gone into the question on 
its merits. They looked upon the fact that 
there existed a bitter feeling between the 
North and the South ; they looked upon the 
quarrel rather as that of an ill-assorted 
couple who were not living comfortably to- 
gether, and, as they were not living com- 
fortably together, they had l)etter part. That 
was the feeling with which the question was 
regarded by Englishmen. They knew that 
there were many grave reasons why 
America should have continued to be 
united, and they would wish it to have re- 
main so; but they did not look upon the 
question of secession on its merits, but 
rather regarded it as a family quarrel, 
which could be best settled by those im- 
mediately concerned. (Applause.) He 
hardly knew how to put the question pro- 
posed by Mr. Train to the meeting. 



58 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



Some olijections being made to putting 
the question at all. 

Mr. Train said he •wished to know the 
feeling of the meeting — whether their 
sympathies were for the Unionists or for 
the Secessioni.>;ts, freedom or anarchy. 
(Hear and apjilause.) They had humored 
liim l)y meeting there to-night, and he had 
liiimored them — (cheers) — by accepting the 
invitation. (Applause and laughter.) He 
had seen a vote at Birkenhead in Dr. Black- 
man's church, which was in i'avor of the 
reliels, and he did not intend to leave the 
platf(.irm until they had expressed an 
opinion. (Loud applause.) 



The Chairman said he thought they all 
wished that the Americans should have 
what would best serve them. The question 
now in dispute was one that the Americans 
could best deal with by themselves, without 
foreign interference. 

Mr. Train, nothing daunted by the Chair- 
man's remarks, put his question in this 
way : — " Would you prefer the United 
States as a whole or in parts?" 

The Chairman : As a whole, of course. 

The question was put to the meeting, 
which expressed approval of the resolution 
by a unanimous show of hands and loud 
and prolonged applause. 



THE AMERICM PIRATE. 

[From the London American of November 27, 1861.] 

TO THE EDITOR OF " THE LONDON AMERICAN." 



Sir. — "What is the meaning of belligerent 
riirhts ? Is it to legalize piracy ? How long 
will KngUuid allow a i)irate to lay alongside 
her quay V If neutrality can be stretched so 
far, where is it to end ? 

Several American ships with British 
cargoes, are bound outward to India and 
Australia. AVhat prevents their being 
burnt, if Kngland permits the Nashville to 
goto sea? lias not Lloyd already raised 
the rate of insurance ? 

'J'he Nashville herself belongs, or did be- 
long, I understand, to a New York firm. 
Have not tlieir agents here a right to seize 
her? 

Some of the New York packets are owned 
in part in England. May not Pegram have 
destroyed British property in this case ? 
"What analogy can the Tivics see between 
the James Adi:er, United States man-of- 
war, the property of a friendly power, calling 
at Soutliauipton, and this pirate? Pegram 
took the oath of allegiance as officer of the 
United States Navy, and is, therefore, not 
only a r^hd, but a dkseutkr ! 

His so-called commission from Davis does 
not establish \.\w. character of the vessel as 
a ictral man-of-war according to the law of 
nations, even if it established his own po- 
sition, which it docs not — she is therefore 
an illegally-armed privateer or pirate. 

He evades the blockade, which is a crime 
against the law of nation. 

He professes to have come over to bring 
an envoy on a mission. An envoy cannot 
be received by a friendly nation at peace 
with the Government from which he has re- 
belled. 

But admitting that he could, he has no 



November 26, 1861. 

authority as an armed policeman on the 
seas. 

The vessel captured and burnt had no 
cargo on board, but was an inoffensive 
merchantman on a legitimate voyage, and 
there was no proof that she was not in part 
really owned at the South. 

It is not customary to maliciously destroy 
where no direct benefit arises to the cap- 
turer. 

Pegram refuses to allow the crew to 
take all their effects, but gives only an hour 
and a half before firing her. Before so doing 
he takes, or his crew or officers take for him, 
certain property from the burnt ship ; 
among other things a chronometer and a 
barometer, which is the property of the ship, 
and is now in his possession. The Queen's 
proclamation forbids prizes to be brought 
into the Kingdom by either North or South. 
The chronometer is as much a prize as the 
whole ship would have been — therefore the 
Nashville is liable t» seizure by the tiueen. 

Be the recognition of belligerents what it 
may, the tiueen as yet only recognizes the 
legal (Jovernment of the United States — 
therefore she must side with her, or it is an 
act of hostility to harbor a vessel manned 
by rebels and deserters, the more so after 
she has committed an act of piracy almost, 
if not ACTUAi.r.Y in British m'ateks — long. 
9.50 West, and 4'.). 6 North is within 100 or 
200 miles of Kngland, and therefore the 
Harvey Birch nuiy be assumed to have been 
literally in British seas though not British 

WATERS. 

Even if a vessel find anything on the high 
seas or save any property from a wreck, is 
there not an Admiralty law called " Flotsam 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



59 



et jetsam," which oblip^es the master of a 
vessel who makes the finding' to report the 
fact to the Customs, and deliver over the 
property ? lias the Nashville been entered 
at the Custom-house ? 

Let Kngland issue a warrant for arrest 
and seizure, and by one stroke of the Judge's 
pen heal a year of irritation. America 
seeks England's friendship, not her enmity. 



It is useless to look over musty laws 
****** 

prompt action now is worth a volume of 
history. 

Your obedient servant, 

(JKO. Fkancis Train. 
P. S. — Why is it that the Oliserr.cr usually 
has news of Federal reverses, when as to- 
day it turns out quite the reverse ? 



MR. TPtira AT ALDERSHOT ON ''THE AMERICAN CRISIS." 

\From the London American of December 11, 1861.] 



Mr. Train lectured on Friday evenintr, 
December 6, 1861, at the New Assembly 
Kooms, for the benefit of the Aldershot 
Institution for Mental Improvement and 
Social Recreation, of which the commander 
of the camp, Gen. Fennefather, is the Pa- 
tron. The subject, was his travels over 
the world ; concluding with a sketch of 
the American war, and England's course 
thereon. 

Mr. Train having spoken an hour, de- 
scribing his extraordinary adventures in all 
lands, proving amid the applause and laugh- 
ter of the audience, that the Chinese, as a 
people, were " much better educated — much 
more industrious — and much more honest 
than the English." Giving a graphic de- 
scription of England's power and greatness 
in the East — now censuring it — now praising 
it — in each instance with a friendly spirit — 
whirled his delighted audience from country 
to country — finding some enterprising Eng- 
lishman always before him — whose assump- 
tion of the best rooms in the hotel — the best 
beefsteak on the table — the best berth in the 
steamer — and an entire railway carriage to 
himself — (loud laughter) — was too honest to 
be censured — too sublimej^for ridicule. The 
audience seemed convulsed with laughter 
when he spoke of the bashful timidity of 
his own countrymen (the Americans) as 
compared with the magnificent boasting of 
the English race. Having thoroughly won 
the good will of his audience, Mr. Train 
delicately introduced the question of the 
evening — America. More than an hour, 
:Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, 1 have 
spoken for your amusement, will you now 
give me a little while for my own ? (Yes, 
and hear.) First let me say, that I am no 
enemy in your camp to-night (hear), for I 
I bear you a flag of truce^ and tell you in 
the name of our people, that we want no 
war. ((Jheers.) We are too busy with our 
own affairs to think of yours — much more 
to goad you on to bloodshed. (Hear.) 



America has heard of the man who earned 
a comfortable livelihood solely by minding 
his own business. (Laughter.) Your good 
nature, I am sure, will tempt you into my 
having some latitude in what I may say. I 
I am the defendant, you the jury, and you, 
Mr. Chairman, shall be the Daniel come to 
judgment. (Laughter.) 1 am but one among 
many. 1 have no friends outside. You 
are in your own camp, and have five hundred 
papers advocating your side. Therefore it 
is for you to say whether you will allow a 
hearing to the defendant. (Hear, and yes.) 
All I ask, is not to interrupt me when I 
get my steam up, until you get your money's 
worth. (Laughter.) To commence, let me 
say that I am delighted at Wilkes having 
captured the pirate envoys — (oh !) — delight- 
ed, because I can now make Englishmen 
understand what we are fighting for. We 
never thought of your flag, never intended 
to outrage your laws — (cheers) — in fact, we 
never thought at all of you in the affair. 
Our government had nothing to do with the 
arrest. Wilkes acted on his own responsi- 
bility. But I say I am very glad of it, 
because if England will lash her peoi)le into 
war over an alleged insult like this, for her 
flag, what reason has she to suppose that 
America will remain silent when traitors 
fire upon our standard, and drag the emblem 
of our nation beneath their prisoner's feet. 
My childhood's associations are as dear to 
me as yours are to you. The family ties that 
bind Americans together, are as sacred as 
those which belong to Englishmen. My 
relations are as dear to me as yours may be 
to you, and I love my flag and my country 
as dearly as you can love yours. (Cheers.) 
I love America better than' I like England, 
I love my people better than I love your 
people, and should I tell you to the con- 
trary, you would know that either I did not 
speak the truth, or else I was a traitor to 
the land that gave me birth. (Hear.) Eng- 
land is aroused into fury, for she is proud 



60 



train's union speeches. 



and sensitive as the ocean. But let us 
calmly arj,nie the point. First, the Captain 
of the Trent ontrairecl the proclamation of 
the Queen by taking the pirate envoys as 
passencrers. Second, he laid himself open 
to having- the ship seized, by his course of 
proceediiijrs. England says that Wilkes 
had no right to constitute himself an Admi- 
ralty Judge upon the seas. (Hear.) Pray 
where is it written that Lieutenant Williams, 
the mail agent, who became so presumptuous 
in the matter, pronouncing it an outrage 
against international law. was appointed an 
Admiralty Judge ? AVhy should he be better 
posted than tlie older explorer, "Wilkes? 
England decides that he could have legally 
taken the Trent to New York, but had no 
right to take out the envoys, or, as General 
Scott has clearly put it, the greater crime 
would have been the lesser. This is the 
first time I ever saw Napoleon's remark 
verified, that a blunder was worse than a 
crime. There are several ways of settling 
the matter without war. (Applause.) I 
wish our government had tried the traitors, 
convicted them for high treason, and sen- 
tenced them to be gibbeted, and then, in its 
strength, generosity and clemency, banished 
them forever from the country they betrayed. 
Had this been done before Earl Russell's 
dispatch, all would have been in order, and 
your beloved Ambassadors would shortly be 
your guests again with the brand of treason 
on their passports. England says it would 
have been in order had the Trent been taken 
to New York. Why then not send her 
over, keep back the specie, the passengers, 
and the mails — simply send the ship there — 
or if not the affidavits, and let it go through 
the Prize Court. I will guarantee that 
Slidtdl and Mason shall have a fair chance. 
Another way — remembering how well Lord 
Ashburton and citizen Daniel Webster set- 
tled matters on a former occasion. Why 
not let Milner (iibsnn, or (iladstone, or 
Lord Stanley, or Cobden talk the nuxtter 
over with Edward Everett, 'J'hurlow Weed, 
or JiraiKToft, or Seward, or some properly 
chosen referee. (Hear, hear.) 

Again, let us see what the meaning of 
international is. From what 1 observe, the 
word seems to mean England alone; but on 
o.\amination it may turn out that it means 
more than one, or several nations. (Hear, 
hear.) If so, then England has no right to 
settle it, nor America — whj-, then, not allow 
Kussia, Prussia, and France to jint the mat- 
ter straight, iind give them one per cent. 
on the estimated cost of the war towards 
wiping off their annual deficits? That is 
is — settle it l)y contract. (Laughter and 
applause.) Supi)ose Mr. Seward, as he most 
likely will do, condescends to argue the 
])oint — has he not a right? Sup[)()se he 
takes out of his pigeon-hole — he always has 
these things handy — some chapter, some sec- 



tion, some page, a long suit of references. 
For instance in 1812 the right of search was 
then discussed, and don't be surprised when 
I remind you that Lord Palmerston was 
then Secretary of war, or let me start with 
that disputed case of the Congressional 
President H. Laurens, ambassador to Hol- 
land, forcibly taken out of the Mercury by 
the British ship Vestal, carried to England, 
tried, convicted of hi<ih treason, and sent to 
the Tower to await the malefactor's doom. 
That was in 1780, and this was the man 
afterwards exchanged for Lord Cornwallis, 
whose remembrance we continue to cele- 
brate on the 19th of October. Take an- 
other question, say nothing of the kindred 
cases in the Foreign-office. The Leopard tak- 
ing the man out of the Chesapeake, and the 
Leander's experiences, but take the Ameri- 
can ship Hercules in the Levant (1810) 
putting into a vSardinian port with the 
brother of the Emperor ill on board. The 
moment the captain of the British man-of- 
war heard the name of Bonaparte, he board- 
ed the ship with drawn cutlasses, and forcibly 
seized Lucien Bonaparte, and carried him a 
prisoner to England. I believe the Ameri- 
can had no mail agent on board, and that 
Bonaparte had no daughter to throw herself 
in the door-way, and slap the face of the 
British officer, which may prevent this case 
from being exactly analogous. (Laughter.) 
Take another epoch. The Caroline — Lord 
Palmerston was Premier then, also — was 
said to be assisting the Canadian rebels in 
the Niagara river (of course, the Bermuda, 
Fingal, and Gladiator, got off their arms as 
a matter of course, England being neutral.) 
Colonel M'Nab, with his armed men, board- 
ed her in the night-time on the American 
shore, killed Amos Durpee, set the ship on 
fire, and let her drift over the Falls. Eng- 
land said it was all right, and the gallant 
colonel was knijrhted. Stand forth Sir 
Allan M'Nab ! He was the Wilkes of that 
day, and last week was the guest of the 
t^ueen. Later still, did not your officers 
board the N. B. Chase and take the Irish 
patriot, whose funeral was celebrated by 
some fifty thousand of his countrymen the 
other day in Dublin, forcibly from under the 
American Hag, and bear him away to Eng- 
land ? All these cases I find in the law- 
books, chajiter on chapter, page on page. 
You say they are not analogous — what of 
that ? There are certain rules laid down, 
and I have consulted all those rusty old 
lawyers who liave been so long dried up. 
The senior ])artner of that distinguished 
law firm — Grotius, says it is all right. — 
Puifendorf, says it is all right. Hurrah for 
Puifendorf. (Laughter.) Lord Stowell says 
it is all right. — So does Chitty and Parson 
in the law of nations. — Huirali for Parson — 
(hear and laughter) — and all the junior 
members of the firm say it was all right. — 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



61 



"Wheaton and Kent, and Pratt in his work 
on Contraband. — So does Pbilliniore and 
old Vattel. — Hurrah for Vattcl. (Laughter.) 
They ail say that Wilkes is in order — and I 
propose as the last way of avoiding a con- 
flict : let the Lord Chancelor sum up the 
evidence — and if England will say that all 
similar acts were illegal on her part, then 
America may fairly see that this act of 
Wilkes was equally so. Why has England 
the right of monopoly in all these good 
things? England is always a Christian — 
America a Heathen. — England is the law, 
America the prophet. — You speak of our 
getting up a national del)t. Pray tell me 
what right has England to monopolize all 
the national debt of the world ? (Laughter 
and " Hear, hear.") Why is she the only 
nation allowed to put great burdens on her 
unrepresented millions ? You say England 
has seen the evil of them. America wants 
to see it, too. (Hear.) England has sown 
her wild oats on the battle-field : America is 
emulous of similar amusement. How singu- 
lar that the (^)ueen's proclamation should 
come out just after the Southern cargoes of 
arms and powder had sailed ! Why is it 
that the Confederate flag is allowed to plant 
its traitorous folds over the Strand ; while 
the Stars and Stripes in Fleet street over 
"TiiR London American" are ordered down 
by the chief of police ? Is it the way Eng- 
land has of showing her neutrality? Are 
you aware that the pirate Nashville is now 
in your graving-dock at Southampton? 
You have kindly let me state my case, and 
if you are willing to allow America any of 
the riglits that England assumes, you will, 
1 am sure, give me a verdict for peace. 
(Cheers.) 

But what mean these bitter leaders of 
your journals ? — such animus seldom is seen 
ill the English press. Do you believe it all ? 
(No.) You cannot, for those I meet are not 
anxious for war. The papers would lead 
you to suppose that the moment England 
said war, America was a dead man. (Laugh- 
ter.) As you have heard your side, should 
you like to hear mine ? (Yes.) Will you 
let me talk it right out, just as I feel ? 
(Yes.) Well, then, I think that war with 
America is the worst thing that could hap- 
pen to your empire. America can shut 
your nation's gate and live; close England's 
door, and she must starve. (No.) You are 
in no position to go to war. England is not 
a military natio**^ (Oh !) You have always 
fought with hired soldiers — Hessians in 
America, Sw island Germans in the Crimea. 
To-day you have not forty thousand men in 
your empire, and what are forty thousand 
soldiers, fighting for a shilling a-day, against 
our two millions who fight for the glorv of 
the land ? You are in no position for war 
— never so weak as now, and America never 
so strong. (" Oh," and laughter.) Here are 



some obstinate truths. It looks as though 
England was short of corn, this year. Is 
that so'? — (yes) — and Ireland is short of po- 
tatoes. (Yes.) Then you have elements of 
famine in the land. Famine means the im- 
portation of one huftdrcd and fifty million 
bushels of grain ! Where can you get it? 
From France ? No. She is short, and the 
Faubourg St. Antoine will take care that 
Napoleon don't get the taint of secession. 
Egypt is short this year, and the Baltic and 
Black Sea will ask high prices. War with 
America means starvation prices for bread 
in England — (hear) — when millions of men 
are thrown out of employment. Never be- 
fore did famine in corn and famine in cotton 
occur the same year. England, then, can- 
not go to war this year. Then look at 
Canada. Not a gun, a fort or defence on a 
thousand miles of frontier ! What protects 
the Canadian towns? Can you depend 
upon the Orangemen of Toronto? The 
French Canadians of Montreal? And are 
you sure you have not some belligerents 
nearer home than the Carolina shore ? Uo 
you not think that workmen crying for bread 
may make good materials fur belligerents ? 
And for your sake look at Ireland before 
the war commences ! Is not the O'Dono- 
ghue a belligerent? And Sullivan, of the 
Nation? War with America means fight- 
ing with your blood relations. (Hear, hear.) 
What other people sends you over a million 
a year in small bills of exchange to your 
emigrants? Depend not too much upon 
your navy. Navies are deceptive. No 
worse investment can be found. There is 
no bar in America that will take the War- 
rior. Twenty-seven feet is too deep. Ame- 
rica has five thousand fishing smacks, coast- 
ing packets, brigs, barks, and ships that 
don't pay just now in regular trade. They 
are ready for action, not as pirates nor pri- 
vateers, but with regular commissions from 
the United States' navy. These vessels will 
not hug the coast to meet your Agamem- 
nons and Warriors, but start for Australia, 
and India, and Chiila, and takeyour merchant 
shipping prizes into a thousand eastern ports. 
W liat can you do ? If it has taken twenty men- 
of-war to find the Sumter, and Nashville, 
how many ships will it take to catch five 
thousand privateers ? War with America 
means the destruction of British commerce. 
(•'Oh.") It means more — civil war in this 
happy land. ("No.") llevolutions are con- 
tagious. Revolution in New Zealand, revo- 
lution in China, revolution in Hungary, in 
Poland, in Italy, revolution in Russia, revo- 
lution in America; and, pray, why do you 
except England ? War with America is 
not like war with European powers. It 
means the destruction of twenty-five millions 
of Americans, or victory. I would rather 
you would express no signs of appreciation 
or disapprobation until I have painted my 



62 



Train's union speeches. 



picture. (Hear.) Your papers are guilty 
of poadintj you on to all the horrors of a 
brutal war, and lead you to suppose that 
America is your bitterest enemy, instead of 
your truest friend. I'erhaps I can bring 
the frontier closer home by drawing another 
picture. I will in a few words state who is 
your friend — who your enemy. Well, then, 
France is your natural friend — America 
your natural enemy ! Of course the Ameri- 
cans know that your great army of Volun- 
teers (cheers) is got up against them — not 
your old friend France. (Laughter.) Your 
enormous Army and Navy they know is not 
against their true friend France, but against 
their natural enemy, America! Let me 
sliow you the force of my argument in an- 
other way. During seven hundred years 
have you not always been friends ? (Laugh- 
ter.) Have you not a common literature, a 
common hiw, and do you not speak the same 
language ? What better proof can you have 
that France is your best friend than by talk- 
ing with the officers of the French navy, who 
■worship England for the burning recollec- 
tions of 'J'rafalgar. (Cheers.) 'J'he army, 
too, love you as a brother, for the sterling 
lessons you taught them at Waterloo. 
(Laughter and applause.) The merchants 
like you for having rivaled them everywhere 
in trade. And the priestliood almost adore 
you for having done so much for their reli- 
gion, and showered so oi'ten blessings on the 
head of their Pope. (Applause and laugh- 
ter.) Have I not proved that P'rance must 
naturally be your friend? If not, then I 
have another argument, stronger yet. The 
people, they must naturally admire, revere, 
and respect the nation that took their royal 
guest out of the l>ellerophon, and sent him 
to die, Pa«nhassus-like, on a sterile rock in 
the t^oulhern Ocean 1 (Hear.) Oh, yes! 
France is your friend. Head the Dchats, 
the Moniltur, La Frcsse, and the Constitu- 
tiond. i)on'tyou see how friendly they are? 
How diflerent from the hostile coniuients of 
your natural enemy, America. A nalioa 
that takes twenty-three millions of your 
manufactured goods, and gives you forty- 
four millions of your raw material, must 
naturally be your enemy. Are we not al- 
ways insulting you? Read your papers — 
what an outrage that was fourteen years 
ago — how insulting to sell Erin, pale with 
want, large cargoes of food for uolhiuQ. 



(Loud applause ) Admitted gross insult 
was offered by our burning down the City 
Hall to honor your officers in New York at 
the time of the Atlantic Cable, (Cheers.) 
And more yet, that outrage of sending out 
the Arctic wanderer as a token of our desire 
to insult your Queen, (Cheers.) But if I 
have failed to show that America is your 
natural enemy, observe bow we outraged all 
rules of etiquette in the royal welcome we 
gave the son of the noblest lady that ever 
sat upon the throne of a mighty people, 
(Loud cheers.) That insult should never be 
forgotten, (Hear,- hear.) This change of 
positions of France and America may show 
you how uncalled for is this uprising of your 
people — civilization is barbarism when its 
result is anarchy. Americans want to come 
out to your E.xhibition, next year. (Cheers.) 
How can they, in the midst of war ? Then 
you will want to turn it into an exhibition of 
improved fire-arms. Americans do not think 
England would be guilty of so bad and das- 
tardly an act as to strike a nation when it 
is down. (Hear, hear.) If she agitates on 
this issue, rest assured no apology would 
suffice. It looks to me merely as a ruse to 
get arms into Canada, to be prepared for 
European complications, and to take the 
advantage of leading the passions of a strong 
people in order to keep up a weak ministry 
— but there will be no war, (Applause.) 
My instincts sometimes are prophetic : 
there will be no war : just thirty years 
ago placards were posted all over the 
Kingdom with these words : Stop the 
Duke, Hun for Gold! The remedy was 
powerful — the cure perfect — in fifty-eight 
hours the Duke was out of office — and 
the home guards did not shoot down the 
people. (Hear.) Let us respect the dig- 
nity of our respective lands — respect each 
others' pride, and do anything but dishonor 
each other, rather than go to war. (Cheers.) 
If America is in the wrong she is manly 
enough to make it right. (Hear.) If Eng- 
land finds herself in error — she is too proud 
to do so mean a thing as to strike a nation 
she thinks is paralyzed by domestic discord. 
Hurrah for America L Hurrah, then, for 
England. (Loud cheering.) Mr. Train was 
frequently cheered, and spoke for two hours 
and a-half to an audience who exj)ressed a 
desire, through their Chairman, to hear him 
again. 



train's union speeches. 



63 



MR. GEOEGE ERANCIS TRAIN'S LECTURE AT TUNSTALL- 
ON-TRENT, ON ^'THE AMERICAN WAR." 

[From the London American of December 18, 1861.] 



So many misrepresentations and inaccura- 
cies liave appeared in the metropolitan and 
provincial press regarding this lecture, we 
have taken some trouble to get a fair report. 
It will be seen that there were but two or 
three in the large audience who had come 
there from a distance that created all the 
disturbances. 

On 'I'uesday evening, Dec. 10, 1861, says 
the Sfaffhrds/n're Sentinel, Mr. (x. F. Train 
lectured in the Townhall, Tunstall, on behalf 
of the Tunstall Athenirum and Reading- 
room. The subject of the lecture, as an- 
nounced in the bills, was, "The American 
Question, with variations." The hall was 
well filled, nearly every one present being 
males. TheChiefBailifi' of Tunstall (Thomas 
Peake, Esq.), presided, and, in opening the 
proceedings. 

The Chairman said their object in meet- 
ing together was, first, to promote the ad- 
vantages of the Tunstall Athenaium and 
Reading-room ; and, secondly, to hear a gen- 
tleman who had addressed many assemblies 
in different parts of the country with com- 
plete success, ministering to their gratifica- 
tion, and in no case intrenching upon the 
rules which guided those who delivered ora- 
tions or addresses, or lectures, or whatever 
thoy might be called. It had been reported 
to him that a few individuals had been 
brouglit there that evonitig for the purpose 
of interruption. He did not believe it; he 
would not believe it; was not capable of be- 
lieving that of the people of Tunstall. He 
had known Tunstall a great part of the pre- 
sent century. He knew it before many of 
those jiresent were in existence. It might be 
that their views might not correspond with 
those of Mr. Train, but they must recollect 
that tiie object of the meeting was to benefit 
a public institution, for which Mr. Train had 
coine 150 miles to serve them. (Applause.) 

Mr. Train was cordially received by the 
major portion of the audience, but, before 
he could begin to speak, he was greeted with 
the expression, proceeding from the body 
of the hall, " We hope you will speak the 
truth." 

The Chairman said he would not allow 
any interruption. 

The person who had previously spoken, 
however, inquired, would Mr. Train endorse 
the statements contained in his letter to the 
New York Herald? (Confusion.) 

The Chairman : I must have silence, or I 



will leave the chair. (Applause and confu- 
sion.) 

The disputant persisted, and this time 
said, Mr. Train had called the volunteers a 
set of fools, and as a volunteer he could not 
submit to that. (Renewed confusion.) 

Mr. Train said as the volunteers had been 
mentioned, he would recite a poem in praise 
of them by Eliza Cook, one of their own 
poetesses. 

Mr. Train then said that he had been in- 
vited to meet an intelligent audience of 
ladies and gentlemen, but he should think 
they had brought him into a poultry yard — 
(laughter) — but before he proceeded with 
liis discourse, he thought it well for himself 
and the audience to understand ;i little better 
their respective positions. (Hear.) One 
would suppose that he was paid to come 
there. On the contrary, he came in order 
to add something to the Athena3um fund. 
(Hear) At Hanley he was invited to lec- 
ture for the benefit of the Ragged School. 
He went. At Langton, for the fiuxls of the 
Church. He obeyed that call. At Birming- 
ham in aid of the St. George's Society of 
Instruction. He went there also. At Alder- 
shot for the Institution of Mental Improve- 
ment and Social Recreation — again he said 
yes; and when your Honorable Committee 
waited upon him with the polite request to 
speak in aid of your Society, he did not 
refuse (cheers) ; but be assured he will speak 
to no audience unless he can command re- 
spect. (Hear.) The hall is filled, the Athen- 
aeum has added to its treasury — the object 
for which his name was advertised has been 
accomplished — therefore, it was for you to 
say whether he speaks or not. (Yes, and 
applause.) He had no objection to those 
little interruptions, because they gave a 
variety to the proceedings. He presumed 
it was in accordance with the bill — he was 
to speak on the American war, and the 
audience was doing the variations. (Loud 
laughter.) He was not a brave man, and he 
believed if he were shot in battle it would 
be in the back. (I^aughter.) He then recited 
the poem to which he had previously re- 
ferred, in praise of the volunteers, and said 
he cheerfully endorsed every sentiment it 
contained. (Cheers.) He did not want those 
countries to go to war. (Applause.) Their 
commercial interest in each other was too 
great to allow them to go to war. Two 
countries that were bound together by 



61 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



£100,000.000 sterliii!? a year should be tnade 
to keep tlie peace. (Applause.) Allu.=;ion had 
been made to a letter he had written. He 
had written a letter, but there was nothing 
in it that was hostile to England. (Disappro- 
bation.) lie had been long in this country, 
and had been accustomed to speak his mind. 
No man or body of men had ever yet been 
able to muzzle him — (laughter) — and if they 
succeeded they are more clever than those 
who failed ! (Hear.) They called him a spy. 
He pleaded guilty, and would write, talk, 
act, as he pleased, when he pleased, and 
■where he pleased ! (Hear.) When there are 
so many milk and water Americans in Eu- 
rope—half and half men who don't know 
exactly which side they are on, but go howl- 
ing about deprecating the war- — hopinji; for 
peace — depreciating the exertions of the 
cabinet, and favoring the action of the trai- 
tors, when these neutral patriots (!) arc 
abroad — a little energetic action was worth 
a volume of talk. (Hear.) He would rather 
drop war, and speak of China, or Australia, 
or on any other subject they like to suggest. 
He would lecture on anything from theology 
to infidelity at two minutes notice. (Oh.) 
He was not there to express their opinions, 
he came to express his own. They had their 
press and their members of parliament to 
express their views of things. Then, it was 
for them to say whether they would permit 
one from the other side of the water to ex- 
press his views. (Hear, hear.) He had a 
right to express his views, but if they did 
not like to have them, let them say so. 
('•Yes," and applause.) He had no hostility to 
England. Eour years ago, when Dr. Mackay 
visited America, he (Mr. Train) introduced 
him to several of the leading men of the 
country, got up a banquet at Washington to 
welcome him, and suggested that he should 
write an international poem that should 
bind the two countries — England and Amer- 
ica — together. Shields was there and (Juit- 
mau of Mississippi, and lioycc of Carolina 
was sitting side by side with Seward of New 
York, for then there wns no confusion in the 
council. (Hear.) Dr. Mackay wrote a poem 
called "John and Jonathan," which Mr. 
'i'raiu recited. That poem was recited at the 
banciuet at Washington four years ago, and 
the oftener they recited it, tiic better for 
both countries. (Applause.) Ho spoke as a 
Northerner, and he endorsed all the senti- 
ments of tliat poem. Perhaps England is 
right in sliowing such animosity to America. 
I'erhaps right in joining the South against 
the North, in encouraging rebtdlion against 
government. (Xo.) Time will show who are 
Iriends, who enemies. How often had he 
heard at English tables long and loud cheers 
when the President of the United States 
was the toast. (Hear.) Have these happy 
days past? (No.) How often have we seen 
an American audience rise as one man — in 



Australia, in America, in England — and 
deafen the ear with shouts and cheers, when 
the chairman mentioned the name of the 
fair Victoria, the happy Queen of England 
— (loud cheers) — are these pleasant memo- 
ries, all gone by, never to be recalled again? 
(No.) God forbid. There must be no war 
between these two countries. (Cheers.) If 
such a war were to take place in this civil- 
ized age, they had better send to the Em- 
peror of China and ask him to send mission- 
aries to civilize England and America. If 
America had done wrong, she would apolo- 
gize ; but if she had not, neither England 
nor any other nation could make her apolo- 
gize. (" Question," and expressions of dis- 
approbation.) Did the international laws 
apply solely to England, or to all nations 
alike? The law officers said that Captain 
Wilkes had no right to take the men out of 
the Trent, but he might have taken the ship 
to New York. If he had taken them con- 
trary to international law, he (Mr. Train) 
would warrant they would be given up. 
Mr. Train pointed to the capture of lAicien 
Bonaparte and of the Irish rebel McMauus, 
who he said were forcibly taken out of 
neutral ships, and argued that Captain Wil- 
kes had only done what England had been 
doing during the last fifty years. If England 
could do this, how was it America could not 
capture, under similar circumstances, men 
who were in rebellion against her? Suppose 
that two Irish members of Parliament, The 
O'Donoghue and The O'Brien, had plotted 
against the Government, escaped to Hol- 
land, embarked in an American ship for 
New Y^'ork, would an English man-of-war 
hesitate about their capture? (Hear.) Who 
were the two men about whom they talked 
of going to war? Mr. Mason was the author 
of the fugitive slave law, and Mr. Slidell 
had been for a quarter of a century making 
hostile speeches against this country. Did 
they think the Americans, when they boarded 
the'l'reiit, and took these rebels prisoners, 
wanted to insult the English flag? They 
never thought of the English flag. They 
were after the vile scamps that had dragged 
the en\blcni of their own fair land in the 
mire. The captain of the Trent had no 
business in the face of the proclamation of 
neutrality to take those men on board his 
ship, and ought to be discharged. (No, and 
disapprobation.) Has England forgotten 
that she has some of her black subjects in 
the prisons of New Orleans ? England for- 
gotten the South Carolinian law of 1835, 
taking negroes (British subjects) out of 
British sliips and selling them, in case the 
nuister did not pay the fine? Again, in 1848, 
no Habeas Corpus allowed; 1851, thirty- 
seven British subjects were imprisoned. In 
1852, forty-two! (Shame.) Here is an outrage 
on England's flag worthy of action. (Hear.) 
Turning to the Chairman, Mr. Train asked 



train's union speeches. 



65 



what proportion of our exports go to Ame- 
rica? 

Chairman. — Two-thirds. 

Yes, said Mr. Train, two-third of their ex- 
ports went to America, and liow tlieii conld 
they rise up to fan this nation in a war 
flame — how could they knock down a man 
they were making: money out of? To say 
the least, men whose l)read and moat and 
clothing came from their prolific trade with 
the United States ought to be ashamed of 
themselves. (Laughter and cheers, over- 
powering a few hisses.) How could they deal 
with this case before they had heard how 
the Cabinet at Washington had decided? 
How did they know that the prisoners would 
not be given up ? But he would tell them 
what he wH>uld have done with them (the 
prisoners). He would have tried them in 
the prize court at New York, he would have 
convicted them of high treason, and sen- 
tenced them to be hanged. (Hisses.) Yes. 
to be hanged, and then put them on board 
a Cunard steamer, and presented them to 
the nation they had vilified for a quarter of 
a century. (Hear.) Some years ago he saw 
on the gates of Canton and Shanghai the 
heads of several rel)els in different stages of 
decay, hanging high in air in cages, as a 
warning to traitors. But America needs no 
such example. Let the parricides be ban- 
ished from the land, where they can corrupt 
no more Ann'rican blood. Let them be 
exiled where the finger of scorn will point 
to them in every house and street and city 
— so that house and street and city shall 
become known to the passing traveler as 
the place where the convicts Mason and 
Slidell resided when a generous government 
allowed them to escape the gallows. (Cheers 
and hisses,) (Not noticing the interruption, 
Mr. 'I'rain, by entertaining anecdotes, con- 
troled the attention of his audience.) "Guilty 
or not guilty?" asked the judge. "How can 
J say until 1 hear the evidence," replied the 
Irish prisoner at the bar — (laughter) — "and 
then agin, what are you placed there for but 
to find out by your laming?" (Laughter.) 
Let us have the evidence that Wilkes has 
l)roken the law. 'I'he future historian will 
find material for volumes in the press. Mark 
well how the disease spread. The first day 
the Time.'i said all right; the second, all 
wrong; the third brought a cry for ven- 
geance — cold, fever, and then delirium I Posi- 
tive, boil; comparative, boiler ; superlative, 
burst. (Laughter.) England's cause, there- 
fore, is like the Irish committee, who 

Resolved — That we do have a new jail; 

Resolved — That the new jail stand where 
the old jail now is; 

Resolved — That the old jail be not re- 
moved till the new jail is built. (Loud laugh- 
ter.) 

Outrage on the British Flag. Gross 
Insult to the Britisu Natiox. — These 
5 



words repeated one hundred millions of 
times during the past week have lashed the 
nation into military nuulness. If, then, in 
Euiiland's love for the Cross of St. George 
she fiiuls cause to involve this noble country 
in the brutal horrors of war for an alleged 
insult, how can she defame the Americans 
for ])lunging the sword deep into the heart 
of the assassin, who in the darkness of the 
night crept tlirough the ])ath of friendship, 
of emolument, and of honor, outraging all 
family ties, public obligations, sacred oaths, 
and domestic privacy, in order to be more 
sure of the traitors' blow with a weapon 
gangrened with time and steeped in false- 
hood's poison, which the pirate envoys aimed 
at the life of a nation, wherein God for some 
all wise reason has planted the Tree of 
Liberty. (Applause.) Let us refer the dis- 
pute, aiul pay a small commission to the 
Government brokers to arrange it. (Laugh- 
ter.) England is not the nation to arbitrate 
alone. Who thinks of putting Reynard on 
the jury in a ])oultry trial? (Laughter.) If 
each would sweep before his own door, we 
should have a clean street. Saith the pro- 
verb, — " The hatred of an enemy is bad 
enough, but no earthly poison equals in its 
intensity the hatred of a friend." We must 
change all this ' The world is improving — 
barbarism is disappearing — cannibalism is 
going out — mastodons are of the past — 
ravenous animals are growing scarce — poi- 
sonous weeds and roots are difficult to be 
found — the devil himsidf has been deposed. 
(Laughter.) Surely, then, the tiriie has ar- 
rived to do away with the atrocities of war! 
(Cheers.) War, writes Channing, is a great 
moral evil. The field of battle is a theatre 
got up at immense cost for the exhibition 
of crime on a grand scale. Brother hews 
down brother — the countenance Hashes rage, 
and thousands are sent unprepared, in the 
awful moment of crime, to meet their maker! 
(Hear, hear.) I told them at Aldershot that 
no outrage was contemplated — no insult in- 
tended — that America was too busy with 
enemies at home to needlessly estrange her 
friends abroad. She would rather 

Join thp stars and .stripos and cross 

In one friiliu'ual liaud, 
Tin Anslo-Saxon faith and laws 

llhunme every land! 

(Cheers.) The idea of taking the rebel en- 
voys out of a British ship never entered the 
head of American statesmen. 'J'hey have 
too much to do at Washington to seek em- 
broilment with England. The James Adger 
was sent for the Nashville. The envoys left 
Charleston en roitt'i for England via Hava- 
ua. The British Consul in full unifurin in- 
troduced them to the Governor-GeiiL-ral of 
Cuba! The 'i'rent committed the outrage 
on the Queen's proclamation as well as the 
American flag, by taking such rebel material 
on board. Her jurists have often put oa 



66 



train's union speeches. 



paper the law — no quibble can chaiig-e it — 
no arjifuincnt weakens it. I have looked over 
the books and consulted the n cords, and 
find antliority on authority. The United 
States did not sign the Paris Congress IGth 
April, 185G; hence preserved right to seize 
goods in neutrals. IF goods, why not dis- 
patches? Military men are contraband, why 
not those who make them? Slidell and Mason 
wi-re worth a dozen brigadier- generals. 
(Hear.) England might have the riglit of 
asylum, but it' it went to war, it would be 
a lunatic asylum. ^Vllat did they want Ame- 
rica to do? Did they want to say to her, 
liolding a revolver at her head, "Give up 
those men?" (A voice : "No; we don't want 
our mails stopped.") Mr. Train : Quite right. 
AVe don't stop them^ we never stopped your 
males or your females either. (Hoars of 
laughter.) lie continued : America wished 
to do all she could to cement the good feel- 
ing between the two countries. Were they 
(the Americans) so lost to all principles of 
humanity that they should lie idle, and see 
their flag trailed in the dust from month 
to month? "Would England do as much? 
Mr. Train proceeded to say that the present 
American question was not a question of 
slavery, and charged l']ngland with incon- 
sistency in being the chief supporter of Ame- 
rican shivery, after making a great sacrifice 
to abolish slavery in her own colonies. He 
was more than once interrupted, and in re- 
ply to the observation from a person in the 
body of the hall, "Our flag must be respect- 
ed," he replied, "Certainly, it should be re- 
spected." The voice : " You don't do it." 
(Applause and confusion.) 

The Chairman rose to order. Addressing 
the offender, he said, "If you would respect 
the flag, you should allow him to speak his 
mind." 

The Offender: "I_will not sit here and 
allow an American to abuse our English 
flag-." (Cheers and disapprobation.) 

Mr. 'I' rain (intensely excited): I am your 
guest to-night. If you do not want to hear 
me, I will go. I am not paid to come here. 
(Turning to his opponent) : I will not be 
insulted by you or anybody else. (Cheers 
and renewed confusion.) You are a brave 
peopli' — a thousand of you against one — 
and yet you are afraid to hear me. ("No," 
and cheers.) The valiant volunteer, from his 
bravery in trying to excite the audience 
against me, when he knows that I am un- 
jirotccted here, and he surrounded by his 
own conntrymen — 1 say frum this spasmodic 
display of buncond)e courage, I am confident 
would have been the first out from IJull liun 
— (loud cheers and laughter) — would have 
even made l)etter time than that pensioned 
libeler Knssell — (hisses) — who, it seems, can 
slander our officers, our government, and our 
country week after week in the London 
Tiiiu.a — ("bear," and "no") — and yet an 



American is not allowed to speak. ("Yes," 
and "go on.") Yonder volunteer reminds 
me of the revolutionary anecdote of the mili- 
tia captain, who told his company to stand 
their ground like men until the English came 
within gunshot, and then to start and go 
round that are hill as fast as their legs would 
carry them — (laughter) — and I being a /ee/^c 
lame, I'll go now! (Loud laughter.) From 
the boldness and bravery of the volunteer 
who interrupted me, I am sure that, not con- 
tented with being a full private in that com- 
pany, his anibitinn would tempt him even 
into the high position of the prudent cap- 
tain himself. (Loud laughter, and complete 
silence during the rest of the discourse.) 
Mr. Train again warmly deprecated the idea 
of a war between England and America, and 
urged his auditors to do all they could to 
allay the hostile feeling in this country 
against America, lie asked them to wait 
patiently until the North had put down the 
rebellion. He said they might fancy that 
serving two nations would be better than 
serving one nation, but he would tell them 
the South would be but poor customers. The 
bulk of the products exported from this 
country was sold in the North. He argued 
that England would suffer more by a war 
than America, which supplied this country 
with bread and meat, and they should reflect 
upon this before they rushed into war. He 
admitted the strength of our navy, but the 
time had gone by for navies. A great navy 
with war about twice in a century would not 
pay anything like a street railway. (Laugh- 
ter.) ]Mr. Train reverted to the Trent affair, 
and said he was confident that it' tlie ques- 
tion was laid courteously before the authori- 
ties of Washington, England would meet 
with all the courtesy and attention she could 
wish in return, but if she put a pistol at the 
head of Secretary Seward and said "Give 
up those men," he was afraid it would raise 
up that spirit of which he had seen some 
manifestations in that assembly. He did 
not think England was the nation to strike 
America when she was in trouble — to take 
advantage of her internal dissensions to gra- 
tify passion and revenge. England was too 
great, too independent, to take advantage 
of the weakness of any nation. AVas is not 
so? (Api)lause and coid'usion.) They would 
not strike a man when he was ill in bed, 
would they? He did not believe England 
really bore any hostility to America — (Cries 
of No, and cheers) — and he told them Ame- 
rica bore no hostility to England. When, 
any of our great men went to America, did 
they not receive them generously — even 
Mr. Edwin James? (Loud laughter.) No 
matter who it was, if he wanted a home, he 
would find one in America, which was an 
asylum for the exile as well as England. The 
l)apers every day talk about having put up 
with so many insults. What an admission! 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



67 



Take insults from a man in roliust lioiiltli. 
and then when siclaiess may have t<il<en 
away some of his strength, Knghuid jumps 
upon him with the fury of a tempe?t. (No.) 
England has made two serious mistakes. 
First, in taking in such a repudiating thief 
as JetV. Davis as a junior partner — (No, and | 
laugliter! — and seconil,in showing such want ' 
of faitli in the power of our (Jovernmcnt, not 
only to settle our own matters. l)nt to demand 
rt'S])ect from Europe. Has Kngland forgot- 
ten our infancy and boyhood? our infancy 
of 177G? our boyhood of 1S12? The e.x- j 
pedition at Port Royal was three times the ! 
size of the great British fleet of Elizabeth. 
There were but 176 ships, with l;i,()(lO men, 
against the Armada, and all but 84 whicii 
belonged to the Crown were privateers or 
merchant armed vessels. Kngland was the 
first to use privateers. We were w(dl up in 
the business during the last war. Were you 
aware that the Americans captured fift\-si.x 
British men of-war. mounting eight hundred 
and sixty-six guns? and two ttiousand four 
hundred and forty-tive merchant-men, valued 
and sold for one hundred and seven millions 
of dollars in 1812? ("Not possible.") Who 
has grown the most rapidly since these times 
— Kngland or America? One would suppose, 
when reading the loud boasts of the press, 
that the history of the Constitution and 
(juerrier, the Wasp and the Frolic, United 
States and Macedonian, the Hornet and the 
I'eacock, were forgotten. If everything fails, 
there is one more chance yet to stop this 
unholy, unjust, unheard-of enmity against a 
kindred people. There is a lady in the land 
that blesses all within her voice — tlie adora- 
ti(Ui of the people, who never before found 
one so pure in heart, so clear in head, so 
noble in person, so accomplished and so fair, 
as the beautiful Queen of these happy islands. 
(Loud cheers.) In the name of the President 
of the United States let me say that the 
American people will willingly leave the 
whole matter in her hands, believing that in 
her judgment and nobleness she will find 
some plan by which the Saxon pride of both 
lands can be appeased without shedding a 
drop of blood. 

Mr. Train sat down amid the greeting of 
loud cheers, having entirely won, during the 
two hours' lecture, the good nature of his 
audience. 

Mr. J. N. Peake proposed a vote of 
thanks to Mr. Train. He had come there 
out of goodwill to them, to benefit one of 
the public institutions of the town, and the 
least they could do was to thank him for his 
kindness. If lie had said somethings with 
which they did not agree it must be remem- 
bered he spoke from the American side of 
the question, and they could not expect him 
to speak from the English side. There was 
no necessity for interruption. If there had 
been any feeling it should have been smo- 



thered for the sake of giving tlie lecturer 
that courteous reception which, as a stranger, 
he was especially entitled to. (Applause.) 

The Chairman indulged in the hope that 
with the end of the year would end the pre- 
sent irritation and ill-feeling in this country 
with respect to America, and that the new 
year would usher in a well-grounded, lasting, 
and abiding peace between the two coun- 
tries, lie asked them not to be premature 
in judaiug the issue of the present misunder- 
standing, and not to condemn America oij 
an ex y(nte statement, but wait until they 
know both sides of the (piestion before they 
decided upon it. Alluding to Mr. Train, 
whom he called "this illustrious stranger," 
the chairman said he did not believe what 
two or three partizan newspapers had said 
about him. Englishmen appreciated yiluck, 
and under the circumstances he thought 
that Mr. Train had pnved himself a bold 
man to beard the lion in his den. (Hear and 
applause.) 

Mr. Emberton seconded the motion. He 
said he would not give place to any gentle- 
man in that room for loyalty to his country,' 
and he did not wonder that Mr. Train should 
have strong sympathies towards his own 
country. (Applause.) It would be unna- 
tural if he had not. If he (Mr. Emberton) 
were in America at the present time and 
were called upon to address a public meet- 
ing, and asked to speak upon the subject 
now agitating the two countries, he should 
consider he had a perfect right to speak his 
ow^n views, and was entitled to the fair at- 
tention of those whom he addressed, but he 
doubted whether he should have had the 
courage to do what Mr. Train ha<l done to- 
night. As one of the Commiltee he had 
been in a fever all day at the rumor of break- 
ing up the meeting, and he was rejoiced that 
all had gone off happily, (Applause.) 

The audience itnmediately rose, and on 
resuming their seats indulged in the usual 
mode of expressing their thanks by loud ap- 
plause. 

Mr. Train, in responding, comi)limcntcd 
the audience on their good behavior, ami 
said he should like to meet them again. 
He said the newspapers had been talking 
about him for two years, and they would no 
doubt talk about him a good deal more be- 
fore he died. (Hear.) The IVwe.?, however, 
had ignored his existence entirely— they 
don't even condescend to abuse him. ( Laugh- 
ter.) That they would admit was the un- 
kindest cut of all. Their chairman alluded 
to the attack on him when lecturing at l>ir- 
mingham, he gave the record of the titles 
given him in gratitude for having introduced 
a carriage for the people — (cheers) — among 
which were — "Adventurer !" " Lunatic I" 
"Humbug!" "Speculator!" "Bankrupt!" 
and "Conspirator!" (Laughter.) Why, 
then, should he be surprised at seeing this 



68 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



morning a scurrilous leader in a London 
journal calling him an Informer and a Spy ? 
The article was no doubt written by some 
Pariah of the Press so low in the scale of 
ItMteis as not to have been invited to meet 
the distinguished men who have graced 
his banquets — some Pohomian writer who 
no doubt, having Dick Swivellered every 
newspaper ollicc in London, as a last resort, 
makes one of the ill-used staff who take the 



chances of getting a portion of their wages 
every Saturday night. Changing its proprie- 
torship as often as the miserable paper on 
which it is printed — reduced so low as to 
disgust its 1,317 readers by introducing a 
halfpenny novel illustrative of the editor's 
fortunes, tlie present abject appearance of 
the "Morning Chronicle" marks more for- 
cibly the contrast with its former fame. 
Peace to its ashes ! (Laughter.) 



[From (he London American of December 18, 18C1.] 



IMPROMPTU, 



ON WITNESSING THE DIGNITY AND CALMNESS OF ENGLAND ON 
THE IMAGINED OUTRAGE TO HER FLAG. 

BY AN AMERICAN SPY. 



Thursday — An outrage ! cried the belliger- ! il!/b«da?/ — Ships, troops, and munitions of 

ent throng. 
Friday — Said the Press and the Law Lords 

— all right ! 

Saturday — Said the Cabinet Council — all 
wrong ! 

Sunday — Said the message, Beg pardon I i of Powers, 

or fight ! 1 As she rushes to battle in fifty-six hours I 



Are the diplomatists sent to interpret 
the law I 

MORAL. 

Nations ! mark the calmness of the grandest 



m\, TRAIN ON THE TRENT. 

\From the London American of December 25, 1861.] 



The discussion on the alleged outrage on the 
Trent is as lively as ever : lawyers and editors, 
merchants and bankers, are always ready to 
take up the argument. The debate at the 
"Forum" on Monday night, December 23, 
1861, brought out some new opinions. The 
tjuestion under discussion was — ''}Vhether 
Eifjland is ju.stificd in fjoiiifj 1o varon the 
■Tnnit affair or not?" We Lave a short 
report of Mr. 'I'rain's reply. He seems to 
l.ave changed his mind. 

Yes, Mr. Chaiiman, I would say to Mr. 
Seward, (jim jip the men — war must be 
avoided. (Hear.) It is not for me to advise 
the Secretary of State, for I am not a be- 
liever in good advice. The sneers of an 
enemy are preferable to the counsel of a 
friend — but I am no enemy to the adminis- 
tration, hence give no counsel — but, in com- 
mon with my people, am deeply inlereated 
ill all questions that interest them. Give up 
the men! apology is better than war- -and, 



for once, I believe England is right —(hear) 

— America wrong. My opinion, it seems, is 

of sufficient import to have it misrepresented. 

That misrepresentation I desire to correct. 

" Young men should be seen and not heard," 
I says the proverb : but the same sage wrote, 
I " that gravity was a mysterious carriage of 
j the body to cover up the defects of the 
j mind." In former speeches I have touched 
I upon the 'I'rent. but I have since modified 

my views. Wise men change their minds, 
j fools never do. (Laughter.) Not profess- 
I ing to be very wise, or to claim unusual 

stupidity, I beg to whirl on the "Trent" 
j question. At first, patriotism overshadowed 
I judgment, and I said, give up the men only 
1 at the point of the cannon. I now say, in 

any case, (jive up the men ! (Cheers.) On 
I comparing notes, all the analogies have fallen 
j to the ground. Everett and Sumner have 
I been handsomely floored in the Laurens 

case — (Yes, and Hear,) — and Bonaparte, 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



69 



McManus, and the Caroline seizures are not 
aiialosrous to the Trent. (Hear, hear.) The 
water runs thronf^h them all — Lurd Stowell, 
AVheaton. Philliinore, Kent, Person, Pratt, 
Vattcl, Piiffendorf — and even old (Jrotius, 
decline to give their assistance. It s^ems 
the Mason and Slidell capture is entirely 
original with Wilkes. International law 
has not provided for it. My opinion began 
to waver some days since ; and when the 
author of the " Maritime Law of Nations" 
gave Lord Palmerston his special decision, 
I was convinced that the Americans had 
not got a leg to stand upon. (Cheers.) Let 
me compress his three-columned article in 
the Morniiui Pout, finding WilUes guilty of 
gross violation 'of international law, into a 
paragraph. First, Willies fired a shotted 
gun. (llear.) Second, he illegally called 
the "Trent" captain on deck. Third, he 
illegally omitted to look at the ship's papers 
to test the vessel's neutrality. Fourth, he 
illegally boarded the "Trent" with armed 
men and arrested two passengers. (Hear.) 
Small as are the points, they directly violate 
the law of nations. America, in 1812, made 
war on account of the very act which Wilkes 
has committed. The flag covers everything. 
(Applause.) M. Ilautfeuille is clear in his 
analysis. Between neutral nations there can 
be no war — hence, no belligerents, no right 
of search, nothing contraband. ( Applause.) 
Denmark and Spain are at peace — Havana 
belongs to the one, St. Thomas the other. 
" The Trent belonging to another neutral, is 
steaming away peacefully, when the " San 
Jacinto," owned by still another neutral, 
commits the offence that has aroused the 
lion into a war frenzy ! and no wonder! (Hear 
and applause.) America would have been 
wild under the insult. So would France. 
Read Webster on the Kozta affair at 
Smyrna to Hultzman. Here is the error 
committed — between neutrals there is noth- 
ing contraband. Had the Trent been loaded 
with Whitworth guns or Enfield rifles, or 
Beauregard, Davis, and a dozen of their 
generals, America could not break the law. 
(Hear.) Because there can be nothing con- 
band between two neutrals. (Hear.) 
Ilerein is our weakness — ln-nce we must 
give up tlie men! Therefore, Wilkes was 
wrong again; first, in supposing that there 
was contraband of war between nations at 
peace; second, even if not contraband, he 
could not seize Mason and Slidell, unless 
proved military men; third, he cannot sepa- 
rate cargo and passengers, but must take 
the offending vessel into the prize court. 
(Applause.) This course has been endorsed 
by the French Emperor and the Courts of 
of Europe; and if Earl Russell has statetl 
the case as fairly as M. Hautfeuille, the 
Cabinet at Washington must give up the 
men. (Cheers.) But the President's weak 
est point is the non-recognition of Davis's 



cabal — not weak for the country's welfare) 
but as bearing on this case. If the seizure 
is made on England's law of belligerents, 
the foregoing facts decide that Wilkes was 
wrong. If, from the President's view, the 
case is worse instead of better — (hear) — our 
Cabinet admits no Confederate Government, 
acknowledges no war, therefore can recognize 
no belligerent — (applause) — yet assumes to 
take the envoys as belligerents, while the 
Cabinet only admits them to be rebels. 
(Hear.) Rebels can only be taken within 
twelve miles of the American coast; while 
the "Trent" was far away. (Applause.) 
The incoming mail will bring a clever argu- 
ment from our Premier — perhaps so clever 
as to evade the question — but I cannot see 
where he will find his point. Two wrongs 
don't make aright — (applause) — and because 
England has committed highway robberies 
on the ocean — (laughter) — it does not fol- 
low that America should profit by that ex- 
ample. (Hear, and laughter.) Suppose 
that Archbi.^hop Hughes and Edward 
ICverett had been on board the Trent, and 
that bold pirate Pegrim had come alongside, 
and carried off these Union men in the 
"Nashville" to Charleston, would England 
have shown the same hostility? (Hear, and 
Yes.) I doubt it. If he would recklessly 
burn the "Harvey Birch," belonging to 
Secessionists, why not board the " Trent ?" 
Do you not notice how little the Americans 
say about the "Nashville?" Why? Sim- 
ply because Pegrim plays the pirate on his 
employers' property. (Laughter.) Perhaps 
the c<jrreppondence between Earl Russell 
and Mr. Adams, re Nashville, may contain 
some points bearing on the Trent; but 1 see 
no room for escape. I was sure the 
case of the Mexican General Paredez. pas- 
senger by the Teviot, Royal Mail steamer, 
from Havana to Vera Cruz, in 1847, was 
analogous. — Singular enough, Slidell, when 
Minister to Mexico, was baflled by this same 
Paredez, who embarked from Kavana, as 
Slidell did — and being taken to Me.xico by 
the British steamer, when the United Jftates 
was at war with thut country, our Govern- 
ment demanded redress. 

Bancrol't, our Minister here, represented 
the facts, demanding the dismissal of Capt. 
May. — Lord Palmerston examined the case 
— saw the law of nations had been infringed, 
and gave the directors of the Royal Mail 
packets orders to dismiss their officers. 
(Cheers.) I thought this was same chap. 
— same sec. — same page — (laughter) — but 
the parallel fell the moment I saw that 
Paredez was a military man — while Mason 
and Slidell were civilians. (Applause.) 
Again I thought I had discovered another 
analogy — I was in the Chinese seas during 
the Russian war. The Dwina Russian fri- 
gate was wrecked by an earthquake at 
Simoda. The crew were thrown upon the 



[0 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



Japenese shore. Eussell and Co., the l\us- 
siaii agents at ShanglKii, if my memory 
serves me, chnrtered the clipper "Yonnff 
Amorica" to take tlie llu.^sians off, but the 
Ensrlisli man-of-war notified tlie Captain tliat 
tliey were coi)fraI)and of Mar, and to touch 
them at their peril. So the clipper returned 
to China. A Dutch vep.'^el, the (ireta, in 
vhich T had engajred my passaf^e to Japan, 
endeavoured to accompli.sh whatthe Ameri- 
can failed to do. AVherenpon the British 
fri^L^ate waited off the coast, and seized the 
" (ireta," and carried her to Shangfhai, 
■where she was condemned. Here, then, I 
said, is justification for Wilkes — when, lo ! 
I discovered that Captain Fortescue, of the 
liaraconta, who I met at Mr. Dent's hospi- 
table mansion, did what Captain AVilkes did 
not do — that is. carry the ship into port and 
have her loyally condemned in the Prize 
Court! (Ajiplause.) Here ajjain my ana- 
locy failed, and now I frankly admit there is 
no other way to preserve the dijitiity of our 
nation than hi/ giving vp tlie men ! (Cheers.) 
AVhile there is no analoft'y for Wilkes, Kng- 
land can point to a case that justifies the 
Cabinet of Washing-ton in giving up the 
men. — Lord Mulgrave, of the British frigate 
Ardent, captured the Dutch ship Ilendrica 
and Alica, bound from Holland to St. 
I'.ustatia, with arms and munitions, and five 
inihtary passengers, and carried her to the 
Prize Court at Portsmouth. — Sir George 
Hay (Nov. 23, 1777) decided that, inasmuch 
as she was bound from one neutral jiort to 
another, there could be nothing contraband 
of war. Hence the ship was liberated — 
and the five officers, witli conmissions in 
fJnrir pocketa from the Rehel Commission''r 
Benjamin Franklin, at Parin, to join the 
J'ehel army a gainst England, icere dis- 
charged! (Applause.) What better pre- 
cedent does Mr Seward require for action 
on the Mason-Slidell affair? (Hear.) My 
countrymen do not doubt my loyalty — (No, 
and applause) — and I would not take this 
course did I not think it more manly to 
acknowledge an enor than to ])ersist in the 
vrongatthe risk of war. (Hear, and loud 
cheers.) Napoleon has already decided the 
(luestion — (hear, hear) — so why speak of 
aibitration ? His circular is endorsed by all 
the Courts in Kiir()i)e. (Hear.) As usual he 
lias btejjped in ahead uf the world and 



absorbed all the credit. (Hear, and laugh- 
ter.) He did the same at Pekin, and at the 
Crimea carried off the glory — (hear)— and 
once more he entel-s the field of diplomacy 
just in time to take away all the thunder? 
(Applause and laughter.) In conclusion I 
again say riive ii.p tlie men! I hope that 
Seward will do it graciously; that he will 
send them over in a war ship — (cheers) — 
that he will meet with a manly spirit the 
haughty demand of this proud nation. 
(Hear.) Nay, more I hope that some one 
will have the foresight to do an act of hu- 
manity to some brave soldiers who may 
freeze in the snowbank or perish in the ice- 
bed if they attempt that cold winter journey 
of six hundred miles — an act of courtesy to 
England, even though just now she does not 
deserve it (Laughter.) A little thing of 
itself, but something that will be recorded 
to our credit. J mean and hope that the 
Cabinet of Washington will not only give 
up the men, but will send a dispatch to 
Halifax offering a free pass through Port- 
land to the bold winter army — (applause) — - 
at the expense of the American people — 
(cheers) — on their way to Canada. (Loud 
applause ) America is proud and sensitive, 
but it is the pride of honour ; and she can 
do this gracious act with dignity to herself, 
and gain the good- will of the civilized world. 
(Applause.) 'J'he honourable gentlemen 
says that it was an outrage. Admit it : but 
is that a cause for war? ("Yes.") You 
are right, sir — but don't forget that America 
refused to go to war in 1812, till England 
had captured f^om^:. fourteen hundred of our 
citizens — (hear, hear) — and if England 
showed the same forbearance she would not 
go to war 'until we had committed some 
thirteen hundred and ninety-eight more out- 
rages of a similar nature. (Loud laughier 
and cheers.) My twenty minutes have ex- 
pired, and although you kindly say " Go on," 
I will not break the rules of the debate, 
more especially as there are eloquent gentle- 
men from Georgia, from North Carolina, and 
New York who may have a word to say. 
So let me conclude with one recpiest to the 
Cabinet at ^\^asllington — one favour to the 
American people — and that is: "Avoid 
war, and Give up the Men !" (Loud 
applause.) 



train's union speeches. 



71 



MR. TRAIN ox TIIF. EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH. 

\From the London American of January 1, 18C2.] 



There is no abatement in the interest ex- 
pressed iti all circles on the arrest of the 
rebel commissioners. These i,'entlemt;n, by 
the act of Ca[)tain Wilkes, have been mag'- 
nified into a notoriety that their talents or 
thtir virtues would never have entitled them. 
We listened to a debate on Monday night, 
December 80, IB61, worthy of record did our 
space permit. Mr. Train was loudly called 
upon to conclude the argument — on the 
question,- Doks thk Empkrou's late Dis- 
patch ON TUB TrKNT MKAN PeACE? 

Mr. Train said : — 

Great in the council, fearless in debate — 
Who follows y<iu, sir, takes the Train too late! 

(Laughter and applause.) It is kind of you, 
gentlemen, to call me up t-ven at the eleventh 
hour, and though too late to catch the spirit 
of the debate, I am in ample time to express 
my honest belief in the perfect sincerity of 
the Kniperor of the French. (Hear.) I have 
listened to four able speeches, and while I 
endorse the two so friendly to the Emperor, 
I disagree entirely with those who have so 
savagely attacked him. (Applause.) lam 
a believer in Louis Napoleon. He made his 
own throne and keeps it. I was once an in- 
fidel to his greatness, but he has converted 
nie to the Christianity of his power, his 
genius, and his honesty. (Hear.) I have 
watched that wonderful man for many long 
j-ears, and have implicit faith in his friend- 
ship and good-will to England. (Applause ) 
No matter where you find him — whether 
chatting with Count D'Orsayat Lady Bless- 
ington's table — or standing beside his mo- 
ther's grave in Italy — landing with his Eagle 
at Boulogne — or throwing himself open- 
breasted upon the bayonets of Strasburg ! — 
eating his frugal meal at Delmonico's in 
Broadway — or smuggling himself into 
France with a Swedish passport — making 
bive to the beautiful Eugenia — closeted with 
the Romanoff at Stutgard — changing the 
map of Italy with the Hapsburgh on the 
banks of the Solferino — or paying his courtly 
hospitality to Victoria, the Queen of these 
fair islands — (cheers) at St. Cloud — Napo- 
leon, Emperor of all the French, has been 
true to his destiny — true to his star — true to 
his people — true to his nation — and you must 
permit me to challenge its contrailiction — 
has been true to that land that sheltered 
him in his exile— (cheers) — and that people 
who befriended him when the world was un- 
kind and his life seemed almost a blank. 
(Loud cheers.) Remembering your kind- 
ness then, he has never deceived you, but 
been as true to England as the steel to the 



star and the stream to the sea. (Applause.) 
And you have no right to question the 
honesty of his opinion on the "Trent." 
(Hear.) No right to accuse him of interested 
motives, no right to turn aside his friendly 
advice so courteously given, not to yon, but 
to the Americans. ( Hear and question.) I 
have not left the question : while you per- 
mitted the other speakers to wander from 
the Jewish Hanhehrim in Jerusalem to the 
camp of Beauregard, and from San Juan to 
San Jacinto! (Laughter and applausi;.) I 
never lose my point, nor shall 1 evade the 
argument. To be or not to be — that is the 
question — (laughter) — not to be convinced 
that the Thouvenel dispatch carries an olive 
branch to America is to he so blind as not 
to appreciate friendship when it is so grace- 
fully offered. (Hear.) I was once as great 
a Red Republican as the eloquent speaker 
whose love of liberty makes him here the 
real despot of the discussion. (Laughter, and 
yes.) Years ago I said the Emperor went 
up like a rocket, and will come down like 
the stick. I have since concluded that there 
was no stick in that rocket— (cheers) — 1 saw 
nothing then to admire. I talked as you do 
now of the cvap d'etat. I said the Credit 
Mobiler would go to pieces in month — that 
the Emperor was preparing to revenge 
Waterloo and Trafalgar— (hear) — that Paris 
was France ! Louis Napoleon was Paris! — 
and manifest destiny ruled Louis Napoleon! 
that another grenade at the Opera — a bay- 
onet at the Louvre — a runaway horse on 
the Boulevards — a chicken bone at dinner — 
would send the Emperor to the Tomb of 
the Invalids, and revolution would bring out 
again from the haubourgs the Marats, and 
Dantons, and Mirabeaus, and Rol)espieres 
who w(;re waiting to revenge Orsini's death ! 
(Hear.) I little thought then that France 
would remain so tranquil for a generation, 
while my own fair land was passing steadily 
through the throes of the most terrific revo- 
lution the world has ever gazed upon ! Some 
years liave passed since I was presented to 
the Enqjeror by a Secessionist minister — 
(laughter) — imt I have marked well each 
phase of his eventful life. He is always at 
home — whether writing to the four Liver- 
pool merchants, or declaring an Au.-^triaa 
war by a new year's compliment to an Aus- 
trian minister — borrowing two millions 
through Barings and Rothchild, at a saving 
of two per cent. — (laughter) — or in keeping 
all his own friends about him — not forgetting 
to promote his boy in London to his groom 
of the stables in Paris — (hear) — or even iu 



72 



train's union speeches. 



giving fame to the forum in the Moniteur. 
(Cheers.) No matter where, or how, or when 
you take him, he keeps his originality — his 
ideas are all Napoleon. (Applause.) 'I'heonly 
thintr that he has shown had taste in and lack 
ot'judirment is in not permitting me at once 
to introduce the street railway into Paris. 
(Luujihter and cheers.) I was engaged dur- 
ing the war with a large dealer in contracts 
for the Italian army — and some enormous 
transactions were about being consummated, 
when, presto ! the world was astonished. 
The ajan de change startled me with the 
Bourse dispatch. La paix est S/'gne! 
against France — against England. Yes, in 
the lace of the world, he stopi)ed short in 
his career, just as Europe was organizing 
into a battle-field. (Flear, hear.) Nation 
was arrayed against nation. Forty millions 
of French! Twenty-six millions oF Italians! 
against si.\ty millions of Germans, and, per- 
haps, sixty millions of Russians, with thirty 
millions English thrown in to keep them all 
up to the mark. (Cheers.) lie disappointed 
the entire world, and to-day there are Jive 
hundred Ihousand more live men in Europe 
who may thank the Emperor for his act. 
(Cheers.) I saw a bomb-sliell thrown into 
Europe in 1848 ! that bomb-shell was loaded 
with free opinions — the fuse was the Em- 
peror of the French — (hear) — that fuse is 
still burning! Again, I compared him to 
the cork in the champagne, tied down bv 
Navy, Army, and Church, but nobody now 
seems inclined to cut the cord that chains 
his destiny. (Applause.) Wonderful is his 
history — what jjower! what self-control! 
what judgment! what tact! We may al- 
most say of him what Phillips did of the 
hero of Austerlitz: "It matters little 
whether in the Field or the Drawing. Room, 
■with the Mob or the Levee, wearing the 
Jacobin bonnet or the Iron crown, banish- 
ing a Braganza or exposing a Uapsburg, 
dictating peace on a raft to the Czar of 
Russia, or contemplating defeat at the gal- 
lows of Leipsic," he was equal to every 
emergency, lias not Napoleon the Little 
turned out to be another Napoleon the 
(ireat. (Hear, and how about the coup 
d'etal ?) 

The coup d'cfaf, gentlemen, I^ord Palmer- 
ston thought was the base of all his great- 
ness. (Hear.) Had not Napoleon imprisoned 
the generals who had conspired against him 
that (lark winter morning, they would have 
imprisoned him! (Loud cheers) The 
honnralile gentleman makes much of the 
Emperor's Italian promises. 'I'rue, he said, 
that he would free Italy from the Alps to 
the Adriatic; but, gentlemen, I hold the 
argument here, and challenge you to point 
me to dispatch or speech stating when he 
would do it ! (Loud cheers, and That's so.) 
Wait a little longer there is a good time 
coming. This may be an important reason 



why he wishes peace in the dispatch we are 
n(5w discussing. (Hear.) That dispatch 
will have a great effect at Washington. 
(Hear.) And you ought not to speak lightly 
of the Emperor's friendship. He has intro- 
duced a new system into Diplomacy, the 
system of telling the truth. (Oh, and hear.) 
Yes, he is too much for statesmen, too much 
for Kings, too much for Diplomatists, for he 
tells exactly what he intends to do before 
hand, and always does what he says he will. 
(Cheers.) The last speaker spoke sneer- 
ingly of his bringing England into the Rus- 
sian war; surely your memory is at fault or 
mine is. Did not Nicholas open the debate 
with Seymour at St. Petersburg when he 
offered England Egypt for the privilege of 
going to Constantinople? Yes. If 1 am 
not misinformed England dragged the Em- 
peror into that war, and France bravely re- 
sponded with ships and money and men, and 
stood boldly by the brave soldiers at the 
Alma, the brave guardsmen at the Inker- 
man, and plunged into the Malakhoff at the 
sound of the English bugle. (Cheers.) 
France was true to you then, why should 
she deceive you in this dispatch ? Again, 
Sir John Bowring fiund a belligerent on 
board the lorcha Arrow. And, again, you 
said to France, send out your ships, your 
troops, your artillery, and we will go hand- 
in-hand in introducing civilization and Chris- 
tianity into China in the shape of opium 
boxes and cannon ball! (Laughter and 
cheers.) The war was yours, not Napo- 
leon's, and knowing the peculiar habits of 
the Algerian soldiers you ought not to cimi- 
plain, because the Frenchmen boned all the 
Curios at the sacking of the summer palace 
at Pekin. (Hear and laughter.) You should 
not forget that the Zouave breeches are pe- 
culiarly adapted for stowing away Canton 
crapes and shawls. (Laughter.) Again, 
did not the Emperor go hand-in-hand with 
you upon the Syrian question ? The Nea- 
politan ([uestion ?) The Sardinian question? 
And is he not now preparing to march with 
you through the halls of the Montezumas? 
(Cheers.) How then can you listen to the 
speakers who have thrown so much doubt 
upon the Emperor's friendship. (Hear, and 
"How about the Morning Clironirle and re- 
cantation ?") Call it recantation if you will. 
I was wrong on the Trent affair, I saw my 
error, and thought it more manly, more 
honest, more gentlemanly, to admit it than 
to insist that I was right, (Applause.) I 
am not ashamed to own that I have changed 
on that question, and I trust in (jod that 
my people far over the sea will treat the 
matter as fairly and as candidly as I have 
■ione. (Loud cheers.) Ten years, you see, 
have also brought a change in my views of 
the I"]m|)eror of the French. My opinions, 
as the old lady said of her children, may be 
very ugly, but nevertheless they are niiue. 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



73 



(Hear.) People who live in p];i?s lioiises 
may throw as many stones as they please — 
(laugjiter) — but I am not so sure that hark- 
ing' doi;s won't bite. (Laupliter.) Once 
more, h't me ask you to ])Iaee relianee on 
the Emperor's word. He has never deeeivod 
you since Lord Palmerston acknowledged 
liim a hellii,rerent. (Laughter.) Did he 
not send you his purse for the sufTerers in 
the Indian mutiny? (Yes, and applause.) 
Did he not meet Cobden like a man? Is 
not his palace even now draped in mourning 
for your sad bereavement? Why, then, 
should you (piestion for a moment the Iion- 
esty of his advice to the Cabinet at Wash- 
ington ? (Hear, and applause.) I believe 
he is as* true to America as he is true to 
England and to France. (Hear.) The 
names of De Grasse, llochambeau, and La- 



j fayette are as dear to Americans as they are 
to Frenchmen. A cheer, then, for La Belle 
France. (Applause.) 

" Land of HiToett — in our need 

Olio prayor from IlPiiveii wo crave. 
To sliip the wounds thiit vainly bleed — 

The wise to load llin limvo. 
Call back one captain from thy past, 

From ^'lory's marble trance, 
Whose name shall bo a bnjjle blast 

To rouse us I — V'iyo la France ! (Applause.) 

Pluck Conde's baton from tlio troncli ! 

Wake up stout Charles Martel ! 
Or fjive .some woman's hiind to clench 

The «word of La I'ucelle! — 
Give UH one hour of old Turenne, 

One lift of Bayard'.s lance, 
Nay, call Maronijo's chief again 

To lead us !— Vive la France !" (Cheers.) 

Ye.s, gentlemen, vote for the Emperor — a 
man so true to himself cannot be false to 
any man. (Loud applause.) 



THE AMERICAN QUESTION. 



MR. TRAIN DISCOUNTING THE FUTURE. 

SEWARD. 



-DEFENCE OF MR. 



IFrom the London American, of January 8, 1862.] 



We are pleased to notice the great revul- 
sion of feeling in this country in favor of 
peace, The press is less warlike, and the 
speakers in the discussion halls, where pub- 
lic opinion is manufactured were conciliatory. 
Although appearances have been against it, 
we are convinced that the great mass of the 
English people are friendly to America, and 
as anxious to shake hands with the Ameri- 
cans as the Americans are to shako hands 
■with the English and be friendly. We 
'warmly recijirocate the kind forget and for- 
give leader in Monday's Times. 

We are pleased to see at the discussion on 
the American question, in the Islington De- 
bating Hall on Saturday evening, January 
4th, 18()'2, that the large audience repeatedly 
applauded the speakers who favored the 
Federal (jovernment. Mr. Train, by his 
recent recantation, as the journals cull it, 
on the 'i'rent affair, seems to have entirely 
regained his former popularity. Many of 
the country papers have reproduced from 
the Lomhiii Amerirau his speech, with 
highly complimentary comments, believing, 
as they say, that it foreshadows the action 
of the American Government. His pre- 
dictions as to the certain downfall of the 
Copper Head Conftpirary, and of the 
triumphant success of the Federal (jovern- 
ment in preserving the Union, the Consti- 
tution, and the laws, are likely to be soon 
verified by incoming arrivals. IJe mapped 



out a chart in the debate alluded to for the 
rising generation of the West that is worthy 
of consideration. The audience seemed de- 
termined to have him take part in the de- 
bate, although he told them he came to 
listen — not to speak. We give an extract 
of that portion of the speech defending the 
Cabinet and bearing on the future : 

Mr. Train : Can the South subjugate the 
North ? That is the way to put the Ameri- 
can tpiestion in an understandable way to 
Englishmen. (Hear.) Can three millions 
of disorganized traitors overpower twenty- 
five millions of united patriots? or, in other 
words, is it possible for four hundred thou- 
sand slave owners who have succeeded in 
enslaving four millions of blacks, bring again 
into bondage twenty free States, and make 
slaves of the free citizens of the North as 
they have of the white men of the South? 
Procrastination may be a thief— (laughier) 
— but this time you will find an honest man. 
General 'J'ime is the best oflicer we have in 
our army — next in rank is General Patience I 
Wait a few mails longer,.and Kngland shall 
be satisfied that the Americans have not 
disgraced their Anglo-Saxon fathers. (Ap- 
plause. The flag already floats over thirty- 
two States, and even while I speak 1 think 
I hear booming over the ocean the sweet 
music of the Union cannon playing the ar- 
tillery retpiiem of Death to Treason ! 
(Loud Applause.) Omnipotence is with us 



74 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



— tlipro i? no such word as fail Providence 
is generally on the side of the stronsenl 
battalion. The voice of the Union cannon 
is the voice of God. Our camp covers three 
millions s(|uare miles. Our army is the 
army of freedom throughout the world. 
(Ajiplause.) Europe wants more air, and 
America is fighting- for millions in this 
hempislicre as well as for millions in that. 

" lu vain, our kindred shores to part, 
Are WKves betweeu us thrown. 
The tide lliat warms a Hritish heart 
Is that which lUIs our own." — (Applanse.) 

AVe tight for millions of Union men in the 
South, who call upon the nation's banner for 
support. We fight for millions of P^uro- 
peans, who awail for pence before emigrating. 
\Ve fight for honor, education, and religion, 
— home, wife, and father-land; and, as an 
American, you must pardon me if I smile at 
the summary way the last speaker ])roposed 
blotting us otf the world's map, by sending 
five thousand troops to Canada. 1 am not 
one of those who brlieve that the Western 
people and the Western empire can be 
wiped out of the Western horizon in three 
weeks time, only to leave a grease spot on 
the Western ocean ! (Laughter and ap- 
lilause.) An illustration will show its ab- 
surdity. How brave England will laugh to 
scorn the man who feared the destruction of 
these islands at the lauding of five thousand 
Frenchmen at Dover! (ilcar, hear.) Or, 
better still, what could be more ridiculous 
thau England to have attempted the con- 
quest of Russia by sending only five thou- 
sand Englishmen to the Crimea ! (Applause.) 
My duty compels me to tell you, in con- 
dence, that the Americans are not Chinese. 
(Laughter.) We have got through with the 
r'u-^ilive .Slave Law envoys; you will soon 
have with you the author of the Negro 
Catcher Act, and the son of the New Ylu-k 
tal.ow chandler; and I wish it were possible 
lor them to bring their negroes with them, 
just to show E.xetcrllall how well such men 
can manage such labor ! (Laughter.) You 
speak, sir, of the Yankees swallowing the 
h'ck and eating humble pie. If doing right 
is a reproach, doing wrong would be infamy. 
(Cheers.) We are doing our best to stop 
the hak! (Laughter.) And, as for humble 
pies, all I can say is, that the founder of our 
luilh never indulged in any other kind of 
pastry! No, sir, our surrender is a great 
moral victory! (Cheers.) We shall hear 
no more of Mason and Di.xon's line. It will 
now be Mason and Hlidell's capture. (Hear, 
ht'ar.) Everything is on the change, 'i'he 
I'ope turns brigand— kings die suddenly — 
Vesuvius belches forth molten iron ; and 
slaves no longer run away from their masters, 
but mastcMs run away from their slaves. 
(Loud applause.) 'I'he gentleman is mis- 
taken about the strength of our Cabinet and 
our unity. (Jnjitting the two hundred traitors 
in Forts Warren and Lafayette, and Fer- 



nando Wood— (laughter)— the North is a 
unit, acknowledging one chief, who combines 
the virtue of Washington with the will of 
Jackson. Lincoln is every inch a President. 
Never before has the American Cabinet 
po.^sessed such an amount of Puritan 
honesty, Christian patriotism, and so many 
cubic inches of solid brain. (Hear.) No 
cleverer man than Chase ever handled the 
country's finances. No abler man than 
Cameron ever filled the War office ; and 
you mu.^t permit me. emphatically, to deny 
the oft repeated slander that Seward is 
hostile to Kngland. (Applause.) In recent 
speeches 1 have alluded to this industriously- 
circulated slander. Seward is not a man of 
war. His temperament is peace. Clever 
as a lawyer — clever as a speaker — clever as 
a writer — clever as a statesman — he is, with- 
out exception, the cleverest Secretary of 
State that America has ever possessed. I 
have read his speeches since I was a child — 
clear, forcible, and full of life, lie can talk 
di|)lomacy with Lyons, war with Palmerston, 
Latin with Russell, Greek with Gladstone, 
or Hebrew with Rothschild. (Laughter.) 
Ilis dispatches are specimens of patriotism 
and eloquence. He never repeats. All his 
dispatches to European powers are unlike in 
composition, but the same in sentiment, and 
I challenge the speaker who alluded so se- 
verely to ir Premier, to point me out one 
word of hostility to England. (Cheers.) For 
many years I have been proud of his friend- 
ship, and when in Europe some little while 
ago, after some twenty-five years' absence, 
I talked with him much about England. I 
met him in London, and presented him to 
Lamartinein Paris, and was much instructed 
by the conversation of the two republicau 
chiefs. Any one acquainted with the Sec- 
retary can understand the good-natured joke 
about Canada, to the Duke of Newcastle. 
That dinner-table badinage, and a clause in 
his Astor House speech, in 186i), has fur- 
nished the te.\t for all the libels on his 
character — " Let Carolina, let Alabama, let 
Louisiana, let any State go out, and you 
will find Canada and the Mexican States 
rushing in to fill the vacuum." That is the 
extent of his offending. 

So far from being hostile to England, he 
has always been just the reverse — (cheers) — 
and I believe that Mr. Adams has already 
received a dispatch, in advance of England's 
demands, highly conciliatory, which has been 
su|)pressed by the Foreign Office from the 
people. (Applause.) Yes, Mr. Chairman, 
it is all up with the South. The last mean 
thing done by Davis was to eat himself out 
of Virginia into 'I'ennessee. (Laughter) I 
have often read descriptions of the whole- 
sale game-hunting of some lands. The 
sportsman surrounds the woodland for miles 
and i)eats steadily up to the centre, when 
the rattle of rifies deals death and destruc- 



TRAIN S UNION- SPEECnES. 



iD 



tion on every side. (Applause.) Such is 
now tlie Federal policy. No belter analogy 
can be Cound than tliat oF the Bastile pris- 
oner, who was placed in an elcoant apart- 
ment, with lii;ht, and fruit, and tidwers. His 
Jiunishnieiit seemed a luxury, till one day 
he imagined that, while the proportions of 
his a[)artmenl were the same, the room had 
lessened in size. Af^ain he looked, and, sure 
enou<,di, there was a change. Where is the 
wonderful machinery ? Pale with doubt, 
listeninii- with suspense, each day he noticed 
the contraction of the walls. Closer and 
closer they came — shuttinjrout window after 
window — but no hand was seen, no noise 
heard — all was as still as death. His doom 
was sealed. An inch to-day, another to- 
morrow. One grip of the four walls, and 
all was over. (A])plause.) The man was 
pressed to death foot by foot, inch by inch, 
and he knew not from whence emanated the 
secret power that crushed him. (Cheers.) 
So is it with this ungodly revolution. Little 
by little — step by step — battalion by bat- 
talion — the camp is being surrounded ; and 
another mail may bring the startling news of 
the death-knell of treason. 'I'hey have play- 
ed all their trumps in the game of dnath — 
while all of ours remain. Their powder is 
exhausted — their power is gone — and the 
canker of remorse is eating up the lying, 
treacherous wretches, who ere long will be 
willing to pick up the crumbs that fall from 
the Federal table, or to rest even for a mo- 
ment in Abraham's bosom ! (Cheers and 
laughter.) You compliment me l)y alluding 
to my success iu foreshadowing events. 
Again I glance at the Western horizon. 
This time we must change the map, and put 
new words into the history of the war. For 
Secession, read Kehellinn — for Secestsinnist, 
read Traitor — for Confederacy, read Ift'gh 
1 reason, — and you will never again laugh at 
the mention of Bull Run, for it will l)e known 
in the nation's record as the Patterson 
Treadu^ry. (Cheers.) It having been ac- 
cidentally discovered that South Carolina 
and Virginia do not compose the entire 
United Slates, these lecherous old thieves 
must be swept away — the two Carolinas 
must sink into one, under the luiuie of Caro- 
lina. Virginia, having prostituted herself, 
is no longer the virgin she once was. and 
muse make way for the new State of Kan- 
awha. (Hear.) Her eastern boundary must 
be added to the District of Columbia, Mary- 
land, and Delaware. The border States 
must all be free. White men must come in 
and Yankeefy the soil, and make the desert 
blossom like the rose. (Hear.) Floridaand 
Louisiana must be reduced to Territories. 
Colonize contrabands in the former if you 
like — and let the comnn'rce of the latter 
come over the railways and the lakes to New 
York. Finish the middle link of that great 



broad-guage trunk link of twelve hundred 
miles, that connects the Frie Railroad with 
the Ohio and Mississippi, the Atlantic and 
Great Western ; and cut a steamshij) canal 
through from the Illinois River to Lake 
Michigan; and by these routes takeaway 
the roundabout commerce of New Orleans 
to the Empire City. Change the term of 
President to si.x years. Build monuments 
to' our heroes who died for the Union — each 
State and each City to honor its own dead. 
Let the fortifications at Washington remain 
as the inner forts, and build an outer wall. 
Have more naval schools and West Point 
academies. Build low, fast, long, heavy 
Parrot or Dahlgren gun-boats, but no frig- 
ates or liners. Open the nation's door to 
all the world, liave no more Caucuses or 
National Conventions! (Hear, hear.) Re- 
model the Constitution to meet the Nation's 
wants. Have a school-book prepared to be 
called the Union Reader, which will be en- 
tirely composed of patriotic speeches, pat- 
riotic songs, patriotic proclamations, and 
patriotic resolutions, commemorating this 
epoch of our history. Put up a large board 
in all the school-rooms, lined with black, 
giving the names of all the pirate chiefs, so 
that the children may daily learn to curse 
their memory. (Oh !) Introduce a new 
Form of Prayer to be read in every church, 
thanking God for saving our nation and pre- 
serving our Union. (Cheers.) And have a 
great National Holiday, to commence on 
Monday morning and last till Saturday 
iijoht — a regular jubilee of freedom! — 
(Cheers and laughter.) Pass a bankrupt law 
for honest men — the last was executed for 
scamps — and let the Treasury Notes circu- 
late among our people, a kind of National 
Baidv without any of its disadvantages ; and 
make it high treason for any man to charjze 
a discount on government paper. (Oh I) 
Cry, America for the Americans — establish 
Aim-rican banks in foreign cities — patronize 
American merchants. We must have no 
more Secession bunkers in England. The 
time is ripe for a Union Bank in London — 
a Union Government Agency — for Union 
men and a Union Administration ! Make 
America the mother land of the Americans. 
(A])plause.) England is the grandmother 
land. (Laughter.) Make up this unseemly 
quarrel — shake hands and be friends. 

" No fame that flashed on Britain's brow, 
But gleam.s on ours alike ; 
Then if you can, abjure us now, 
Forget it all — and strike!" 

One of these truant days I intend to be a 
Governor in my native land — (cheers)— and 
not the least of the planks in my platform, 
when she confesses sorrow for misrepresent- 
ing us, will be, eternal friendship for Eng- 
land ! (Loud and continued cheers.) 



76 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



THE AMERICAN FLAG AND "THE LONDON AMERICAN." 

[From the London American, (f January 15, 1862.] 



"We are glad to be enabled again to raise 
over "The London American" the stars 
and stripes. 

Since the establishment of the interna- 
tional journal, now so widely circulated 
among the loyal Americans in all lands, we 
have endeavored to do nothing that could 
possibly be offensive to the great metropolis 
wherein we are domiciled. It was, therefore, 
with much regret that we were politely re- 
quested to take down the flag by a person 
who represented himself as coming from the 
Ciiief of Police. 

The subjoined correspondence shows that 
the order was not only given without au- 
thority, and that the Secession flag had not 
been countenanced by the department, over 
which Sir Richard ^layne so well presides. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH SIR RICHARD MAYNE. 

18, St. James-street, Jjondon, 1 
Jan. 7, 1862. j 

Sin, — Having often witnessed the flag of 
Plngland ornamenting the flagpoles of 
Broadway on the anniversary banquets of 
the St. Patrick's, St. Andrew's, and St. 
George's Societies, I was ambitious, in these 
troubled times, to see the American flag 
raised in this great congress of all nations, 
and, believing tiiere could be nothing therein 
offensive to Englishmen, I presented one to 
"'I'he London American," 100, Fleet-street. 
'J'his was before the Trent affair. Imagine 
my surprise at learning that one of your 
officers ordered it to be removed ! The 
order was obeyed. I made no complaint at 
the time, thinking that possil)ly some city 
law had l)een infringed. All this time the 
Secession flag has been allowed to float over 



the "Secession Theatre" — a standing insult 
to every loyal American that passes along 
the Strand. 

Fearing that some mistake may have 
arisen, I make bold, in all courtesy, to ask 
you why a rebel banner is permitted to 
flaunt its colors over the New Adelphi ; 
while the American flag is ordered down 
from the flag staff of '• The London Amer- 
ican?" 

Most respectfully, your obedient servant, j 
(Signed) Ueo. Francis Train. 

To Sir Kicluud Mayne, 

Chief of Police. 

reply. 
Old Jewry, 10th January, 1862. 
Sir, — Your letter of the 7th inst., ad- 
dressed to Sir Richard Mayne, has been 
forwarded to me, the subject of it coming 
under my cognizance as Commissioner of 
the City Police ; and, in answer to your in- 
quiry, 1 have to state that no order emanated 
from this office to remove the Federal flag 
nor to countenance any other. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

(Signed) D. W. Harvey. 

G. F. Train, Esq. 

18, St. James-street, January 11, 1862. 
Sir, — Permit me to express my thaidcs 
for your prompt and satisfactory reply to my 
letter to Sir Richard Mayne, regarding the 
American flag and "'J^he London Ameri- 
can." 

Your obedient servant, 

Geo. Francis Train. 
D. W. Harvey, Esq., 

Commissioner of the City Police. 



MR. TRAIN AFTER MR. YANCEY WITH A SHARP STICK. 

[From (he London American of January 29, 1862.] 

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE LONDON AMERICAN." 

18. St. James's Street, Jan. 28, 1862. 



Sir. — The T>aily Kcirs give.s a column and ! 
a half to Mr. Yancey to explain his views in 
his nutmeg speech— a letter as bare of ideas 
as his speech was of morality. As the P<itst 
coi)ie.s its entire, and other journals make 
extracts, periiaps you will permit me to 
show up a few of the most barefaced of bis 
fallacies. 



Mr. Spratt (Debate, May, 1858, Southern 
Convention at M ontgomery) moved : — "That 
the African slave-trade be re-opened." Mr. 
Yancey moved as an amendment — "That 
the Federal laws prohibiting the African 
slave trade ought to be repealed." 

One glance at their resolutions show 
Messrs. Yancey and Spratt to be partners 



train's union speeches. 



77 



ill a foul conspiracy to open the slave trade. 
Does not a prohibitory law ropcalod leave the 
question as it was before? Repeal means 
removal of obstructions. In Kiif^land, it 
signified free trade. Pass Yancey's amend- 
ment, and repeal means free trade in ne- 
groes, or the opening of the African slave 
trade. Spratt's failure might have proved 
Yancey's success. Hence tiie point of open- 
ing the slave trade would have been carried 
by a side-wind, both resolutions being the 
same in spirit — one's loss was the other's 
gain — apparently; but being partners the 
result is palpable. It is not the first time a 
Spratf has been thrown over to catch a 
whale! Yet Mr. Yancey has the audacity 
to throw dust in the public's eyes by saying, 
" that speeches supposed to be for, were 
really against the African slave trade," and 
this, in the face of his resolution embodying 
free trade in negroes I It is notorious that 
the Convention in question, called for com- 
mercial purposes, was converted into a dis- 
cussion forum for opening the slave trude — 
lloger A. Prior, representing the slave- 
breeding interest of Virginia ; and Yancey, 
Spratt and Co., the slave-consuming interest 
of the cotton States. Prior wanted protec- 
tion to stimulate his State to greater pro- 
duction by high prices for negioes. Yancey 
wanted to cheapen negroes, "so that the 
poor could have them as well as the rich." 
Hence his resolution to remove restrictions, 
and give importers their thousand per cent, 
chance in the speculation. The Convention, 
instead of discussing free trade with Eng- 
land, " by exchanging Southern cotton, to- 
bacco, corn, and naval stores, for the old 
world's woollen, cotton, silk, and hardware 
fabrics," was converted by Mr. Yancey into 
a debate of free trade with Africa — in Afri- 
can slaves! No other prominent topic was 
discussed. It was here that the light first 
broke on the hellish plans of the league. 

This Convention was the spark — conspi- 
racy — communicating with the barrel of 
gunpowder — trkaso.v ! A ditierent view of 
Mr. Yancey s explosive analogy, the position 
has changed ; the charge, owing to a radical 
defect of the cannon, came out at the breech 
instead of the muzzle. Shakspeare in our 
day would have placed his soldiers to seek 
the bubble reputation behind the breech- 
loader, as the muzzle is evidently the safest 
place to stand. 

"There have not been one-hundred slaves 
imported into the South from any quarter 
for the last fifty-three years," says Mr. 
Yancey — and this when at the very time he 
was debating more than that number of wild 
Africans from the Wanderer's cargo of five- 
hundred, were passing through ^lontgomery 
to the plantations of his brother slave-own- 
ers ! And 1 am not sure that Mr. Yancey 
himself was not interested in the speculation. 

Agaiu — " Yankee captains — Yankee ships 



— Yankee ships-chandlers and Yankee cap- 
ital — are the notorious main-spring of that 
trade !" As captains, ships, shii)-chandlers, 
and capital are all Yankee products, and all 
Southern enterprise generally comes from 
Yankee land, and energy di.splayed, I can 
readily understand in anything in "Sccessia," 
Mr. Yancey in common justice would give 
the Yankee credit for. Hut was C. L. A. 
Lamar, the importer of the Wanderers' five 
hundred slaves, a Yankee ? 

Mr. Yancey wished to repeal the Federal 
law— as it was a dangerous ])recedei)t — yet 
this precedent Mr. Editor was eighty years 
of age — the laws were made by Mr. Yancey'a 
Yankee fathers, and were all ratified by 
slave-holiling presidents! lie quotes the 
action of the Confederate Government in 
prt)mptly abolishing the slave trade. Yet 
labors for the repeal of the Federal law 
making it piracy! If slavery is solely a 
State Right's institution, how is it that the 
new and improved Constitution of Secessia 
dares to invade the sacred soil of a Sover- 
eign State by legislating at all upon the 
slave question, 

Mr. Yancey boldly asserts "that every 
Southern State had in force laws prohibiting 
the African Slave Trade." If Mr. Yancey 
means to convey the impression that each 
State has passed a law prohibiting the im- 
portation of slaves from Africa, I as boldly 
deny it — and challenge him to proof — and 
in order to stimulate his researches I would 
wager a hundred pounds that it is a random 
assertion, and give him six months to pro- 
duce the evidence.- — I will admit that each 
State may have passed laws with restrictions 
on negroes from one State to another — but 
emphatically deny that such laws apply to 
the African Slave trade as discussed, when 
Mr. Yancey tried to open it at Montgomery 
by repealing the Federal Law. It is difli- 
cult to prove a negative, but would it not 
have been absurd forthe Inland Slave States 
to have numbered their statutes, when the 
United States' laws, which all States ac- 
knowledged as supreme before Secession 
became fashionable, were so ample and all- 
powerful for their protection, that according 
to Mr. Yancey's own statement .only one 
hundred slaves have been imported since it 
was declared piracy. 

Mr. Yancey may have conscientious scru- 
ples in accepting the wager, but he cannot 
hesitate to appreciate the importance of 
protecting his reputation by the proof of a 
fact so incredible in itself. 

1 can readily understand the objection of 
the Daily News to place before their readers 
Mr. Yancey's nine Iiours' speech, as loire- 
poiied speeches give the speaker wide space 
to make alterations to suit the present argu- 
ment. He says he made but one speech on 
the African Slave Trade — but did he not re- 
produce his favorite theory when stumping 



78 



train's union speeches. 



Seccpsia to fire the Southern heart and in- 
struct the Southern mind to the doctrine of 
Perjury, Theft, and Treason ? Did he ever 
omit advocating tlie repeal of tlie Federal 
law, when addressing the slave consuming- 
audience? 

Another quotation : — 

" No State — no prominent man in the 
South wishes to revive the slave trade." 
Indeed ! Perhaps no man is so bold as to 
advocate it as openly as Mr. Yancey, but 
one extract from his master's s]ieech may 
show what one prominent man at least 
thinks of the institution. 

While Mr. Yancey says that free trade was 
the cause of rebellion, Mr. Stevens, V. P., of 
the Southern Confederacy, says, in his famous 
corner stone speech, (.Nlarch, 1861,) '■•Afri- 



can slavery xoas the immediate cause of the 
late rupture and the present revolution. 
The stone (African slavery) ivhich was re- 
jected by the first builders, is become the 
chi'f stone of the corner in our neiv edifice." 
'Vhe last lines of Mr. Yancey's letter con- 
tain the pith of his creed — nobody must 
interfere — England — civilization — the world 
must all stand back. He must be let alone 
— God or man have no riglit to tread on 
Secession soil — uo freedom of speech — no 
freedom of press — no freedom of thought — 
nothing but hang — burn, and destroy. The 
bowie knife — the revolver — and eternal sla- 
very of the white man as well as the black — 
and this is Secession ! 
I Yours truly, 

George Francis Train. 



AXOTIIER RECANTATIOIN^-MR. TRAIX TURNED SECES- 

SIOjN^IST. 

"IS THE NORTH OR SOUTH RIGHT?" 

[From the London American of February 12, 1862.] 



Mr. Train somewhat astonished his friends 
by another Recantation. — For want of 
speakers on the Southern side he turned 
Secessionist. — The sudden apathy on the 
Southern question, and the sudden friend- 
ship for the Federal side we hail as a happy 
omen. — Lord Derby and Lord Carnarvon 
may talk about breaking the blockade, but 
Lord Juhn Russell flatly tells them he will 
do nothing of the kind. — We doubt if the 
speakers last night in the House of Lords 
were any more worthy of record than the 
speeches of Monday night, February 10, 
1^62, io the 'I'emtlk Fori;m. — We have never 
seen an audience more astonished, and more 
elcctifled than the crowded hall who listened 
to Mr. Train's withering sarcasm and bitter 
irony on the question " Is the Noktu or tue 
South Ruiirr?" 

Mr. Train only rose after repeated calls 
upon iiim from all parts of the room ; one 
gentleman having said he wanted to hear 
"'I'rain on the side of the South." Mr. 
'JVain said : — Some gentleman has called 
upon me to deliver a speech upon the 
Southern side. As that side seems to be 
very weak to-night, and — as my Secession 
sentiments are well known to you all — I will 
carry out the suggestion — and will adopt the 
Southern side of the question. (Laughter 
and ap[)lau.se.) Listening to the speeches 
made to-night, and if permitted to judge of 
the coidiict in America by them — the North 
will make very short work of the South. 
(Hear.) As there seems to be a dearth of 



speakers on the side of the South, permit 
me ten or fifteen minutes attention for wliat 
I may have to say on that side of argument. 
(Hear.) The Northerners think they have 
the very best Constitution in the world — be- 
cause they have placed their Temple of 
Liberty on the four corner stones — Wisdom 
— Mercy — Justice and Union! — But we in 
Secessia have based our Constitution and 
reared our 'I'emple of Despotism on one 
acknowledged corner-stone— Negro Slavery. 
Now, I never heard of a house with only 
one corner-stone — (laughter) — there must of 
necessity be four, and these are three omit- 
ted by Davis's Lieutenant— Perjury ! — Ron- 
bery !- — Treachery ! On these four columns 
vve have raised that edifice of Despotism for 
which I have risen to speak. (Clieers.) 
The question of to-night is very strangely 
expressed. It asks whetlier the North or 
South is right? This is what I call an open 
and sluit i[uestion — it is dilTicult to tell 
lilncher from Wellington. For instance — 
Is it right or wrong? Yes, (laugliter) or 
is it hot or cold ? No. (Laughter.) You 
see I can answer in the affirmative or the 
negative. (Laughter.) I maintain that the 
Nortli has acted most wrongly by us — that 
the North was wrong in giving us preced- 
ence in all matters of State — (hear) — wrong 
in giving us, as the honorable gentleman 
from Alabama says, the power to elect 
nearly all the Presidents — (hear) — that the 
Nortli was wrong in giving the South all 
the naval officers — wrong in taking our men 



train's union speeches. 



to makft all the army oflRcers. (Cheers.) 
I maintain tluit the Nnrth was wron;; in 
allowinL"' us to rob the Treasury at \Vasliin<i-- 
ton — wronif in allowin,<i: us to absorl) all ti>e 
Northern t^poils — and wronp in allowinji^ us 
to assume ail civil and military |)ower. 
(Cheers.) I tell you that we in Secessia de- 
spise tiie North. They Ixiast in the North of 
their morality and religion — but we despise 
their morality and religion. (".Shame!") 
1 tell you that tlie North has acted wrongly 
by us in permitting us to remove all the 
munitions of war to the Southern ports 
where they could be surrendered into our 
own hands — (laughter and cheers) — into the 
hands of the far-famed chivalry of the South. 
(Hear.) The honorable gentleman from 
Alabama, who spoke before me, has told you 
how the chivalry of South Carolina marched 
into the .Mexican camp I never head that 
gentleman before — I never before heard my 
worthy friend, who is — I believe— from the 
liot-bed of Secessia; but I must tell you 
that in what he has mentioned he has en- 
deavored lo deceive you — he has forgotten 
to tell you that all those men so ehniuently 
de.scribed were enlisted in Philadelphia! 
(loud cheers), and as I am now speaking on 
nationalities I may say that the command- 
ing officer of those brave men was an Irish- 
man — (General James Shields. — (Continued 
cheering.) — I say that the South has a right 
to complain of the way in which the ques- 
tion in debate this night is considered in this 
country — (here Mr. Train with biting sar- 
casm turned his Southern argument on 
England) — we blame you for deceiving us 
in this gieat issue. W/e have to thank you 
for hastening to acknowledge us as belliger- 
ents, but we have a right to blame you for 
giving all your sympathies to the North. — 
(Loud applause.) — We blame you because 
all your press — the London Times and every 
other of your news journals — has given its 
voice in favor of the North. — (Loud laughter 
and cheers, the audience fully entering 
into the spirit of the sarcasm.) — You can- 
not s[)are one single journal to the South ! 
AV"e blame you for not giving every assist- 
ance to our vctisel of war (the Nashville) 
when in Southampton docks! — (Applause, 
and *' Good again.") Your affections have 
all been centered on the Tuscamra. You 
have never assisted one half of our enter- 
prising navy — the Sumter — now in the 
Mediterranean. 1 have heard — but I cannot 
believe it — that the reason the North has 
not caught her is because the North wishes 
her left to float on the ocean to show 
Europe what the North might do with 5,000 
similar vessels afloat. — ("Oh, oh," and 
cheers.) 

We bkme you — and we have a right to 
blame you — that you have not long since 
admitted the claims of our great confederacy, 
as we were led, by unoj/icial correspondence 



to thiidv you would have done long since — 
(Hear.) — Again, we hiive to com|)lain that 
you have not sufliciontly acknowh'dgc'd our 
established valor: — hav(,' you forgotten how 
ten thousand of our gnind chivalry — aftfr 
two day's fighting — took ninety of tlie North- 
ern men out of Fort Sumter? — (Applause 
and laughter.) — Then again, did we not in 
open daylight, assassinate in Ale.xandria 
their Colonel Ellsworth? You give us no 
credit for these things ; but you would — if 
you acted justly by us — give us some little 
credit on that account. You have not done 
as was 'promised in the first instance — and 
we comjilain that your Lindseys, your fireg- 
orys, your llallilmrtons, and your other 
Members of I'arliameiit advocate — although 
feebly — the acts of the North. — (Ap- 
plause.) — You ought to take our side be- 
cause it is the weaker one. If you saw a 
King Charles's pup fighting with a l»old bull- 
dog, you would take the j)art of the King 
Charles because it was the weaker — and we 
complain that you do nut for the same rea- 
son take our))art, — (Cheers and laughter.) — 
You take enormous credit for having dis- 
patched so quickly men and munitions of 
war to Canada — you take great creilit for 
having suppressed certain dispatches — ("oh," 
" 3'es," and cheers) — remember I am speak- 
ing for the South. — (Laughter) — You take 
great credit for having suppressed those dis- 
patches for three weeks — but we in the 
South keep our secrets longer than that^ — 
we kept o\ir secrets not for three weeks, or 
three months, or three years — but for thirty 
years. — (Hear, hear.) And yet all that time 
we were adding in the North to the Knights 
of the Golden Circle ! W'a keep our secrets 
longer; — not for three weeks, but for thirty 
years — we kept concealed from the world 
our forces — Look at our admirable plan for 
assassinating President Lincoln ! — Cries of 
"Shame!") — it was discovered too soon by 
some vile Union man, or we might have 
asked credit for the success of our Guy 
Favvkes plot to blow up the President — 
(Shanie on them.) — We have been deceived. 
— ^Ve have many enemies in the Northern 
camp. — Our position reminds me of the man 
who fired at a squirrel — when the squirrel 
ran away he exclaimed — Oh! now if you 
had lieen at the other end of the gun you 
would have omitted that chirp. — (Laugh- 
ter.) — Reference has been made to Hull 
Run. — It proves, as I told them at 1I.\.\i,ey, 
what I have had nuich trouble in getting 
Em^lish people to believe — that the .Vmeri- 
can people are never trouliled with that he- 
reditary disease so peculiar to Knglishmen. — 
(Laughter.) — But the Northerners are not 
the only people who have the right of claim- 
ing all such laurels. — (Hear.)— You ought 
to give us some credit on that account also. — 
I>ook when the Northerners lauded at Fort 
Royal and Beaufort — we showed then powers 



80 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



of peilestrianism throwing even Deerfoot 
into the sluule. — (Laii^rliter and cheers.) — 
AVheii the Northern hordes landed, the chiv- 
alry of Georjria went first — South Guroli- 
neansnext — and tlie (lennans last — until at 
last there was but one poor old nisri,'er left. — 
(Loud cheers) — I never saw such speed — 
they reached Charleston in much shorter 
time than 1 siiould have thoujjht possible — 
"Why did the g-entleinen from Secessia omit 
this praiseworthy fact when aliuding- to our 
chivalry ? — Then, ajiuin, read the papers of 
Saturday — and to-day — Have you not read 
bow 10.600 men left the field whereon lay 
the bodies of Zollicolfer and Peyton ? — they 
went quickly because they were anxious to 
fight the battle in 'I'ennessee. — (Confusion.) 
— Don't get excited Secessionists, for I am 
to-n'ght on the side of the South. — (Ap- 
plause and laughter.) — The word Secessia 
signifies Revolver — Bowie Knife — Lynch 
Law — Tar — Feathers, and the noble science 
of Repudiation — (Hear.) — while tlie word 
Unionist or Yankee possesses the mean in- 
terpretation of Education — Virtue — Genius 
— Enterprise, and Ifonesty. — (Cheers.) — 
You are not perhaps, aware that in Mobile 
— in Charleston — in New Orleans — are all 
the manufactories of America. — (Laugh- 
ter.) — That all the shipping of the United 
States conies from the South, and I can tell 
you that the North have no need to boast of 
their Eli Wiiitney and his Cotton Gin — We 
could have invented a Cotton Gin ! — (Laugh- 
ter, and good.) — Mention has been made to- 
night of our intention to march to AVashing- 
ton, encamp on Bunker Hill and raise our 
flag on 1-anuiel Hall. — We did intend to 
march through but not to stop, our object 
being to pass quietly through Washington 
and Boston on our road to liberate the 
40,000 free negroes in Canada — robbed from 
the South by Canada refusing to return 
fugitives. — (Yes, and continued cheering. 
Tiiat's so.) — The Northerners boast of their 
Bunker's Hill and Lexington, and Concord. 
— Now, I say that we could have done the 
same, and more too if we had chosen. — 
(Laughter.) — We could have beaten the 
English in lialf the time. — (Oh !) — We have 
to complain of the unwarrantable delay in 
the aifair of the Trent- — had the Nashville 
taken Lovejoy or Sumner from the deck of 
a British sliip, you would not have taken 
half tiie time to consider the matter! 
(Laughter and hear.) Why, if 1 remember 
rightly you received the news on 'J'liursday 
— on Friday it was all right — on Saturday it 
was all wrung — on Sunday war was declared 
and troops ordered to Canada ! — yes, this 
dignified nation took fifty-six hours delibera- 
tion before declaring war! — fifty-six hours 
after the advices had arrived ! 

Now we say that this delay is unworthy 
of so great a nation — had the act been com- 
mitted on the side of the South half the time 



would have been sufficient. (Cheers.) You 
blame us over the way for delay — procras- 
tination. Why, what did you do at the Rus- 
sian war? On a Monday morning you were 
going to Cronstadt — Napier said so at the 
breakfast-table — (Yes, and hear)- — on Tues- 
day you were going to take Sebastopol — on 
Wednesday to march through Moscow — and 
on Thursday to annex the whole of the Rus- 
sian dominions ! (Loud cheers.) Now, we 
have been but little longer in finishing our 
work. (A voice — "Not so long.") We have 
i)een but a little while longer, and we ask 
for a little patience on your part. Our bat- 
tle-field is four thousand square miles — yours 
was one hundred. The South is right — quite 
right. 1 believe in the right of revolution. 
Canada tried revolution and failed -India 
tried revolution and failed — New Zealand — 
ah ! there 1 believe you have more to fear 
than from France, your nearest neighbor — I 
believe that that New Zealander will shortly 
be in the Forum, sketching the ruins of Tem- 
ple Bar. (Loud cheers,) All these have tried 
revolution and failed, and we have a right to 
try and fail also — (cheers and laughter) — 
no doubt about it. W^e ask you for help ! — 
help ! You have deceived us in the beginning 
— you piomised to acknowledge our confed- 
eracy — Russell said so — and we ask your as- 
sistance now — unless you come to our assist- 
ance within a few days you will be too late — 
the Northerners are coming down upon us 
like a whirlwind, and we ask you to assist us 
or we shall all be murdered in our beds. 
(Loud laughter, continuing for some time.) 
I blame you for not sending out ships to 
break the blockade. Look at Seward— bow 
has he behaved to you ? — what right had he 
to show such friendship to England after you 
had abused him so? When Lord Lyons 
asked him to give up the men, he gave them 
up at once — when Lord Lyons asked why 
he didn't give them up before? He answered 
— Because we didn't know that you wanted 
them — and asked if paying the bill at matur- 
ity was not enough these hard times — (loud 
laughter) — he then said : — Anything else, my 
lord ?— Yes, there has been a vessel brought 
into port with the American flag hoisted 
over the English one. Seward immediately 
telegraphed to the officer, telling him never 
to do so again. (Laughter.) Is there any- 
thing else, my lord? — Yes, two passengers 
similar to Mason and Slidell, have been 
taken from the Eugenia Smith. Mr. Secre- 
tary telegrai)hed at once that they must be 
released, and no more prisoners taken. — 
(Laughter.) Is there anything else, my 
lord ? — Y'es, two Canadians have been com- 
pelled to take the oath of allegiance in Fort 
Lafayette! — Telegrajjli again to absolve 
those men from their oath, and direct that 
no such oath shall be demanded in the future 
from any one. (Loud cheers.) Is there any- 
thing else, my Lord? — Yes, I am concerned 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



81 



about this blockade, and ruin of the hnrbor | 
of Charleston. — Mr. Sowiinl replies l)y ia- 
mentin? that such a course should be neces- 
sary, and sliows how utterly the liarbor is 
destroyed, by announcinfj that a British 
steamer, loaded witli arms and goods, con- 
traband of war, has run the blockade — Is 
there anything else, my Lord? — Weil, no ! — 
Are you sure? — Nothing. — Mr. Seward im- 
mediately sets the telegraph to work to in- 
timate that, in order to save the sufferings 
of their destined journey, the British troops 
may pass through Portland on their way to 
Canada. — Now, I submit that we of the 
South have a right to complain of the man- 
ner in which Mr. Seward acted. Did he not 
in this prove himself England's friend, in- 
stead of America's? Was he not actuated 
by love for England ? We have a right to 
complain of this friendliness. It is contrary 
to our Southern history and our Southern 
Constitution. (Yes, and that's so.) We 
in the South have always breathed hostility 
against England, and we think in return we 
have a right to ask for your assistance now ! 
We had a right to expect that you would 
do something for cotton ! I blame the North 
for giving up ^lason and Slidell so soon — I 
say we have a right to Revolution — I blame 
the North for its friendliness to Eng-land — it 
has always been friendly to England, and 
the South has been always hostile ! Was not 
the Australasian which you sent out loaded 
with soldiers — powder and ball — sent back 
to you by those cowardly Northerners loaded 
with flour and corn ? You don't understand 
this question here in England : as this hall 
is composed of all nations — so is America. 

Tou can't knock out a people's bi-ains, 
Nil niattor how the bolt is hurled — 
The lilood of nations is in our veins, , 
And those who strike us strike the world ! 

I tell you one thing — we have only been 
getting up this little afiair to amuse you. 
The South has not found it to answer and 
now begs for mercy! You must come 
within three weeks to help us. or you will 
be too late. I know, for I have full infor- 
mation upon the subject. Three weeks only. 
Wait, and you shall be convinced that the 
Anglo-Saxon race has not degenerated — 
that we have ourselves the power to put 
down Revolution. (Cheers.) IIow absurd 
for the North to justify blockading our har- 
bors so that you can run in your munitions 
of war over the sunken ships — by maintain- 
ing that England sunk ships at Savannah 
eighty years ago — where we Secessionists 
sunk more the other day — that Richelieu 
made a dyke of sunken ships at Rochelle in 
1628 — that the British Admiral ordered 
Boulogne to be blocked up in 1804 I — and 



sent five ships loaded with stone to Alexan- 
dria in 18(»7 ! that Lord Duiidonald tried to 
get Lord Mulirrave to follow suit at Aix in 
1809! IIow absurd for the Mud Sills and 
Greasy ]\Lechanics of the North to find ex- 
cuses in despoiling the harbor of Charleston, 
by saying that a blockade* of stone was better 
than a blockade of dead men — that the 
Times wished Delhi to be destroyed and sown 
with salt — (hear)- — and reconmiended the 
G-overnment to destroy Pekin street by 
street, and house by house! (Cheers.) Let 
England burn Copenhagen and not give up 
Malta — but the North shows great weakness 
by trying such justification. They thought 
it better to sink ships than to blow up our 
brave chivalry from the muzzles of the guns 
as was done in India 1 (Hear, hear.) — but 
if we could get hold of some of the Northern 
traitors we would tie them to the cannon as 
England did, and send them back to their 
camp in pieces, as a slight rebuke to them. 

(Shame.) 
Tet Blood! Blood! Blood! Screams the sanguinary 

Times, 
Oh, God ! that miscreants should grow rich upon their 

crimes. 

Don't forget that we shall lay our murder at 
Lord Palmerston's door. Promises have 
been broken. We thought you would re- 
cognize us before. We depended upon your 
pro-slavery professions during the last 
thirty years for support against the Aboli- 
tionists. (Laughter.) 

Britannia's breast vyith pity swells for slaves !— their 

wrongs are ne'er forgotten — 
Poor maid ! — we fear her bosom swells are but the rise 

and fall of cotton. 

We blame you for letting Mr. Yancey bolt 
away from the country the moment he 
heard of my preparing his eventful biogra- 
phy — we blame you for your coldness in not 
showing any hospitality to the a\ithor of the 
Fugitive Slave I>aw. You should make the 
most of Mr. Mason — he has cost you a 
million ! He rooms just opposite me at 
Fenton's, but he has never called at No. 18. 
(Laughter.) I am told that Mr. Gregory, 
M. P., is the only caller he has had since 
his arrival. (Hear.) Really you are a won- 
derful people. I believe you will yet come 
out all right — (cheers) — and swear by An)e- 
rica as in former times — (hear) — another 
mail, you must get another act in the tra- 
gedy of empire. I can hear the American 
cannon playing the last act. How pro- 
phetic was British Berkley ! — 

Westward the star of empire takes its way — 
The first four acts already past, 

A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; 
Time's noblest offerings is the last. 

Mr. Train fairly electrified the audience, 
who heartily cheered throughout, keeping 
it up for several minutes after he sat down. 



82 



train's union speeches. 



[It would be difficult for any one to appreciate, not in England at the time, the 
bitter fooling of hostility against America and Americans after the Trent 
affair. The peer and the peasant alike vied with each other in heaping abuse 
upon our people. Mr. Train's letter to the "New York Herald" and his 
Union speeches provoked attack from all the penny-a-liners from Aberdeen 
to Dover ; but instead of giving extracts from the numerous papers in the 
kingdom, the following leader from the "Morning Chronicle," will best show 
how far their hostility was carried. The whole war fever at one time seem- 
ing to centre upon Mr. Train.] 

[From the Morning Chronicle of December 11, 1861.] 



The instincts of a whole people are seldom 
wronjj. For years past there has been 
.irrowing up in Ensjland an involuntary dis- 
like of the being which calls itself a Yankee. 
It is not that we have few national sym- 
pathies with the United States of America, 
or that we detest the hypocrisy which de- 
clares all men equal, and yet advertises a 
wretched batch of humanity " warranted to 
breed like cattle." It is the repulsive vanity 
of the race, which is as yet scarely half-bred, 
and nevertheless claims for itself the fore- 
most stand in creation. There are many 
points of resemblance between the Ameri- 
cans of the North and the Chinese. When 
the Yellow Dwarf of Pekin scrawls with the 
Vermillion Pen an edict proclaiming Great 
l^ritain his vassel, the dirty idiot, no doubt, 
believes in his own majesty. When a French- 
man, spindled like a milliner in effeminate 
buckram, assures his audience at a coffee- 
siiop that he might have married the daugh- 
ter of any English peer, perhaps the ape in 
woman's stays is unconscious of his lunacy. 
When, therefore, a transatlantic longshanks, 
a jaundiced, ricketty, lanthorn-faced, and 
knock-kneed specimen of overgrown squalor, 
l)oasts that he can whip all the rest of man- 
kind, it is possible that the noisome brasrgart 
means what he says, lie is as ignorant as 
a Mandarin ; he knows nothing of any 
country but his own ; he has been accus- 
tomed to lord it over helpless Africans ; and 
lie may have persuaded himself, in this pur- 
blind condition of his intellect, that he is 
one of Nature's chivalry. But, if we can 
excuse the fustian of New York, are we 
l)oun(l to give it an asylum in London ? 
'I'liere is a man now lodging in St. James's 
street, wiio, uniting in his own person every- 
tiung that i.s ridiculous in the general de- 
meanour of a Yankee, is enjoying our 
hospitality and availing himself of our gene- 
rosity to act the spy and to insult us in the 
most ril)ald journals of New York. This 
individual is Mr. (Jeorge Francis Train, 
somewhat notorious in connection with the 
tramway nuisance in our public thorough- 
fares. We shall not lay to his account the 
numerous fatal or othcwiso lamentable ac- 



cidents which have occurred since his pes- 
tilent enterprise was first taken in favor 
by certain vestries, nor is it necessary to 
hold him responsible for all the injuries in- 
flicted by his abominable rails upon carriage 
springs ; but by what I'ight is it that he cor- 
responds with that degraded retailer of filth, 
the Editor of the Neto York Herald? p]ver 
since he arrived in England this Train has 
been an offence, and, so to speak, a social 
obstruction. He has given champagne 
breakfasts to all who were incautious or ab- 
ject enough to partake of them ; he has 
exhibited himself in attitudes the vulgarity 
of which would have disgraced a booth at a 
rural fair; he has delivered speeches, the 
egotism of which was only less revolting 
than his notion that an English Member of 
Parliament could be bribed with a bucketful 
of iced wine ; he has resorted to a puffing 
system, from which even Barnum or Bel- 
phegor might have recoiled ; he has hawked 
about his own portrait, as though he had 
been a wandering minstrel, lampblacked for 
East-end saloon ; and yet — we presume, on 
account of his brag about money — he has 
not been shown to the door of every respec- 
table house in the metropolis. Nor can we 
blame the tolerant hospitality of our country- 
men, especially as it began to abate imme- 
diately after a certain infamous attempt to 
blast the character of an English baronet, 
or the good-humored license accorded to the 
Yankee speculator to make a fool of himself 
in his own way. But the matter assumes a 
very different complexion when we read his 
letter inserted in the vilest print of New 
York." He all but confesses that he is in 
communication with the spies who are 
sneaking about Southampton ; he alludes to 
them as " detectives;" he keeps an inventory 
of ships' cargoes ; in fact, he is eaves drop- 
ping by his own admission, and we want to 
know if the English people are to endure his 
rowdy presence any longer. 

Of course, we are glad that there is no 
Judge Eynch in England. By all means, 
we deprecate the use of tar and feathers. 
On no account let Mr. Train be put under 
the pump. We are very anxious not to 



train's union speeches. 



83 



have liis winrlows brokon. But wo do say 
that no Eiifrlish gentlemen can in future sit 
under tlie same roof with him, and we are 
glad to remember that there are journalists 
attached to tlie press of this country who, 
from the first, refused every invitation to 
wallow at his bribery breakfasts. However, 
from the tone of his communication to the 
most ruffianly newspaper on the other side 
of the Atlantic, we are led to sundry guesses 
at his biography. We should say that he 
was born and educated in the Five Points. 
We should fancy that if he were not George 
Francis Train, he would be Paul Jones on a 
meaner scale, lie is precisely the sort of 
individual to cram with calumny the hungry 
scandalmongers of the New York oyster 
bars ; to scribble anonymous defamations ; 
in fact, to constitute one of that high-minded 
fraternity which panders to the lowest Irish 
feeling and the most reprobate Yankee inso- 
lence in the Empire City. Tiiis Mr. George 
Francis Train compares England to a 
theatre, in which the boxes are secessionist, 
while the pit and galleries are union. The 
vary comparison is an impertinence. There 
is in this country no union and secessionist 
I)arty, but there is a nation which, from the 
dress circle, as he terms it, to the poorest 
waytarer that can spell his own name, has 
resolved to obtain reparation forthe outrage 
on the English flag. But Mr. Train is fer- 
tile in figures of speech. In his eyes the 
merchants, bankers, statesmen, and middle- 
classes of Great Britain are so many foot- 
pads, pretending to travel in peace on the 
same road with America, and scheming 
all the while to maltreat and rob her ; a 
majority of us are traitors, instigated to 
bloodshed by a clique of unscrupulous poli- 
ticians ; our politics are utterly rotten ; our 
outfitters are supplying arms and ammu- 
nition to pirates ; in fact, England is the 
new emporium of the filibusters. 

In the cant style peculiar to him, and 
which is a compound of Five Points slang 
and Senatorial swagger, Mr. Train proceeds 
to assail our Minister at Washington, and 
in a postscript fulfils his final duty as a spy 
by reporting, "Ship had not cleared u]) to 
two o'clock, p. M. Sails Monday for Tene- 



riffe ; more will follow." Now, is this the 
sort of business that the tramway projector 
has in England? Wo had thought that he 
confined his ambition to spoiling our streets, 
running down our omnibuses, jolting our 
cabs, damaging our broughams, and occa- 
sionally varying the performance by frac- 
turing the legs of an old beggar or a few 
children. So long as the English public 
thought this harmless, Mr. Train might 
safely take advantage of our hospitality and 
bounce at the head of his own table like a 
licensed victualler opening a country tavern. 
But since his mission has become political, 
we rather think that Mr. George Francis 
Train is too much of a patriot to remain 
unserenaded in St. James's street. Mr. 
(ieorge Francis Train is a type of the 
Yankee, as we have depicted him, and his 
letter is in precise accordance with all that 
is obtrusive, vain-glorious, ill-bred and im- 
pudent, in the American character. It is 
needless to add. tliat it overflows with" false- 
hoed. We recommend the volunteer cor- 
respondent of the New York Herald to adopt 
a pseudonym in his future communications, 
or, still better, to occupy himself in taking 
up his trams, which are not wanted in Eng- 
land, at any rate from a Yankee speculator. 
And when he has restored our thoroughfares 
to a state of decent safety, to go home and 
sport a tilbury, with a liveried negro, on the 
Broadway. We must have none of this New 
York spying and bullying in London. If 
Mr. Train thinks he can set a watch upon 
our ports, and insult us with impunity, he 
may find, like the rest of his countrymen, 
that our national spirit and energies have 
been underrated, exactly as everything in 
America has been overrated for years past ; 
for example, the army, reviewed the other 
day at Washington, which was said to be 
composed of seventy thousand men, and 
turns out to have been under fifty. Mr. 
George Francis Train, his photographs, his 
speeches, his breakfasts, his cards, his om- 
nibuses, his slang, his petitions, his pull's, 
have long been standing nuisances ; but we 
can put up with a nuisance. Putting up 
with a spy is a very diflerent matter. 



A man's sentiments are oftentimes translated from different points of view. 
England's opinion of Mr. Train's bold speeches are well portrayed in the fore- 
going bitter article from the '' Morniiuj Chi'onicle.^' But America is always 
ready to honor her sons whenever they sliow themselves worthy of her 
protection, as will be seen by the following elegant testimonial from the Com- 
mercial, Financial, Literary, and Political Citizens of Philadelphia : 



84 



train's union speeches. 



TESTIMONIAL TO GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN, 

FROM ONE HUNDRED OF THE LEADING CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA. 

[From the London American of February 19, 18G2.] 



Whatever may be the opinion regardiiic^ 
Mr. Geo. Francis Train's political course in 
England, there can be little doubt about 
the sentiment he has roused in America. 

It will be seen that Wn\. Moran, Esq., is 
the bearer of the letter from Judge Kelley, 
enclosing the testimonial signed by some of 
the most distinguished men of Pensylvania. 
Each mail from the United States brings 
the reproduction of the speeches which first 
appeared in "'I'he Londo.v Amef{ican," and 
we make our acknowledgments to the various 
American journals for quotations from our 
columns. 

(Copy.) 

London, Feb. 18, 1862. 
George Francis Train, Esq., London. 

My Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure of 
being the bearer to you of a copy of the pro- 
ceedings of. and a series of resolutions passed 
at a public meeting recently held in the city 
of Ptiiladelphia, in reference to the patriotic 
course pursued by yourself in defending the 
name and course of the American Union. 
The resolutions speak for themselves; but 
it may add to your gratification to know 
that the names signed to the proceedings 
are those of men who represent the highest 
classes of Philadelphia society, and comprise 
the most eminent citizens among the politi- 
cal, commercial, judicial, and literary classes. 

I can bear personal testimony to the un- 
animity and enthusiasm with which the reso- 
lutions were adopted, and beg to assure you 
how heartily I unite in this gratifying evi- 
dence of public admiration which your recent 
course has everywhere inspired among your 
countrymen, — I am, dear Sir, yours very 
truly, (Signed) Wji. Moran. 

(Copy.) 

GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN, ESQ., LONDON, 
ENGLAND. 

Dear Sir, — It was made my duty to trans- 
mit to you the enclosed resolutions, which 
were adopted, with much enthusiasm, by a 
numerously attended meeting of the most 
intluenlial citizens of the city of Philadel- 
phia. Unavoidable absence from my home 
lias delayed the performance of this agree 
able duty. Let me not, however, detain you 
by apologies or personal explanations, but 
liriefly assure you that the resolutions ex- 
press the KCMitiments, not only of those who 
{larticipated in the meeting, but of all your 
loyal countrymen, — your maidy utterances 
have rung trumpet-toned throughout the 
country. 

In undoubting faith that our own country 



will not be dismembered, and that our demo- 
cratic republican institutions will be purified 
and strengthened by the unhappy contest 
now waging, and with earnest wishes for 
your continued health and prosperity — I re- 
main, dear Sir, with admiration and esteem, 
very truly yours, 

(Signed) Wm. D. Kelley. 

Philadelphia, December 23, 1861. 
(Copy of Testimonial.) 
George Francis Train, Esq., 
The Eloquent Champion of the American Union. 

A meeting of citizens was held on the 
evening of November 25th, at the Continen- 
tal Sabion. Market-street, for the purpose 
of expressing an opinion in relation to the 
manly and patriotic course of George Fran- 
cis Train, Ksq., on the existing national 
crisis, and particularly with regard to the 
stirring and eloquent sptiech recently de- 
livered by Mr. Train, at Westminster Palace 
Hotel, London. 

On motion, John Derbyshire, Esq., was 
called to the chair, and Fred. Forepaugh, 
Esq., was appointed Secretary. 

The object of the meeting was briefly 
stated by the chairman, when Mr. Robert 
Morris gave a sketch of the character and 
career of Mr. Train, and alluded in glowing 
terms to the fearless and independent man- 
ner in which he had on various occasions, 
within the last five years, vindicated and 
sustained the honor and glory of his own 
native land. He then concluded by sub- 
mitting the following preamble and resolu- 
tions : .which were unanimously adopted. 

Whf^reas, in the judgment of this meeting 
it is the duty of every loyal American, whe- 
ther at home or abroad, to avail him.selfof 
every fitting opportunity to vindicate the 
Government of his country — uphold the 
national Constitution, and maintain the in- 
violability of the Union; and, JF//e/e//.v, we 
have with the liveliest satisfaction read the 
eloquent and patriotic speech that was de- 
livered l)y George Francis Train, Esq , at 
Westminster, Palace Hotel, London: 

Therefore, Nesolved — That we hereby ten- 
der our cordial thanks to our gallant and 
gifted young countryman for an effort that 
does honor alike to his head and heart, and 
has been read with the keenest delight by 
thousands and tens of thousands of American 
citizens. 

J^esolrt'd. That Mr. Train has in a spirit 
of manly independence, given a truly forcible 
exposition of the existing national crisis its 
causes and its objects, and at the same time 



train's union speeches. 



85 



vindicated the integrity and piitriotism of 
the millions of his countrymen who endorse 
the sentiment of the illustrious Daniel Web- 
ster, " Liberty and Union — one and insepa- 
rable—now and forever." 

IxesolvciL That a copy of the foregoing 
preamble and resolutions, duly attested by 
the officers and a committee of one hundred 
gentlemen, to be appointed by the Chair- 
man, be forwarded to Mr. Train. 

Resolvtd, That this meeting adjourn. 
(Signed) John Dkrbysiiirk, Chairman. 
Fred. Fokkpaugh, Secnlary. 

Wm. B. Thomas, Wm. F. Forejjaugh, C. 
J. Hoffman, S. K. INIalone. C. D'liivilliers, 
Geo. L. Waitte, Saml. K. Ashton, Jas. 
IMilliken, l\ C. Ellmaker, S. N. Winslow, 
AVm. Anspach, Wm. ISIoran, Henry W. 
(jray, L. L. Crocker, Geo. H. Ashton, Ed. 
P. Mitchell, Saml. Hart, George Harding, 
Wm. AV, Harding, A. G. Cattell, Anthony 
J. Drexell, Wm. L. Dennis, Cephas G. 
('hilds, Isaac Ford, Alex. K. McHenry, H. 
Nelson Burroughs, Geo. L. Buzby, John M. 
Kennedy, Edmund A. Souder, Wm. Bruu- 
ner, A. C. Young, F. M. Godwin, B. Frank 
Palmer, John T. Ricketts, Ed. D. Potts, P. 
B. Mingle, Jos. Leeds, Samuel Dutton, E. 
G. Cattell, John K. Zeilin, R. F. Van Dyke, 
John W. Sexton, Wm. F. Hughes, Chas. 

B. Dungan, Alex. F. Hazard, Jas. M. Earle, 
Edwin Yerkes, John E. Addicks, Saml. L. 
Ward, Howard Yardlev, H. H. Shilliimford, 
O. H. P. Conover, Chas. W. Mitchell, Ju- 
lius Lee, T. B. Peterson, Chas. W. Troller, 
H. B. Leach, Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, Hon. 
John P. Verree, John Edgar Thompson, 
'I'homas A. Scott, Morton McMichael, Rob- 
ert Morris, A. J. Derbyshire, Jas. Patter- 
son. Chas. Gilpin, Wm. H. Kern, Edgar 
Earle, Watson Dupuy, Wilbur F Rose, 
Wm. B. Morris, A. C. Michener, IMahlon 
Milnor, Allen B. Miller, H. M. Kimmey, 
Jolin B. Kenncy, Thomas M. Plowman, 

C. A. Widener, James A. Sloan, George 
Howell, Chas. Piatt, Jas. Steel, James 
Martin. Lewis L. Houpt, Dr. Wm. Gregg, 
F N. Buck E. W. Randolph, Geo. J. Ham- 
ilton, Jas, Mason, W. J. Caner, Rich. Mii- 
son, (ieo. W. Gibbons, Lorin Blodget, Oliver 
Wilson, H. Naglee Bruuuer, Chas. Megar- 
gee, P. B. Savery. 

[Copy of Mr. Train's Reply.] 
18 St. James's Street, London, 
February US, lb62. 
To the Hon. Wm. D. Kellkv, 

Member of Congress, Philadelphia. 
My Dear Sir : — When it comes to pass 
that a prophet becomes known in his own 
country- — the wealth of censure is usually in 
striking contrast to the poverty of praise — 
commendation stimulates the mind to higher 
aims, but how few have the generosity to 
bestow it ! — I have been so misunderstood 
— so misrepresented — so abused in this coun- 



try simply for being true to my own, it 
pleases me to bask in the sunshine of your 
good will. Your testimonial is most wel- 
come, because most unexpected, and having 
observed that our people forget a man 
who has served the State after one banquet 
— one snull'-box — and one freedom of the 
city, I am desirous of prolonging the delight- 
ful sensation of being patted on the 
shoulder. 

In your kindness you mention my loyal 
course during our night of revolution. — I 
could not help it. Some men arc born patri- 
ots — others make themselves so — whilo others 
have patriotism thrust upon them. 'Jliere is 
no credit in knowing how to spell, but posi- 
tive disgrace in being ignorant on that point. 
So there can be no credit in doing right, 
while it is infamous to do wrong. 1 always 
act on first thoughts. Second thoughts 
are often destructive of happiness. First 
thoughts make patriots. Second, create 
traitors. Born within cannon-shot of Bunker 
Hill — nurtured about half way between Lex- 
ington and Concord, my love of country was 
as natural as it was national, The moment 
my nurse explained to me about the Fourth 
of July — I Commenced as a babe firing pop- 
guns in my cradle. — Spent more monej' as a 
boy, in fire-crackers on the Fourth of July 
than any other in the village, and as a man 
have been making Fourth of July Speeches 
all over the world. Happening to be in 
England, when loyal Americans were not 
the chief ornaments of the British ]\Iuseum, 
I commenced firing my signal guns twelve 
months ago, the echo of which is just 
booming back upon me from my Atlantic 
home. 

As my originality consists in appropriat- 
ing the ideas of others ; I am at a loss to 
understand how the world has come to be- 
lieve in me — unless it is by noticing the 
natural simplicity of my disposition and the 
constitutional diffidence of my temperament. 

'J'he world usually pushes a man the way 
he makes up his n)ind to go — if going up 
they push him up — if going down they push 
him down — gravitation, however, making 
the speed the greater on the incline. 

Observing that the riflemen aims above 
the mark he intends to hit, I point to the 
White House with the intention of lighting 
on the floor of Congress. Start fair and 
wonders are easily accomplished. When 
the swimmer succeeds in floating — the river 
is soon crossed. — Let the world acknowledge 
a man to be intellectually one inch over six 
feet — and inches ares oon dropped, and feet 
are added to his statute. Minorities rule 
the world, not majorities, as evidence by the 
fact of there being more Politicians in it 
than Statesmen. 

When told that I am clever, I modestly 
say. Yes, much cleverer than you think me 
to be — this usually stops comment, surpris- 



86 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



ing the auditor by tlie honesty of the 
egotism. 

Had I not more money (in prospective) 
"tliaii I know what to do with, I would imme- 
diately a])ply to the administration as other 
luyal citizens do for my compensation for 
being a patriot. To prevent any sudden 
action of the Government in appointing me 
minister to the Cannibal Islands, I may as 
well mention my (Z/squalifications for high 
office. I have written some unread books — 
know some unknown languages — write rapid- 
ly — speak well — and have kept the command- 
ments from my youth upwards — never voted 
— never belonged to a fire company — Odd 
Fellow — Free Mason, or any other secret 
society — debating club, or military company ! 
— never imbibed a glass of rum, gin, or 
brandy, wine or any kind of intoxicating 
liquor, yet never signed a pledge or belonged 
to a temperance society — never smoked a 
cigar — chewed a piece of tobacco — or took 
a pinch of snufF — never failed to accomplish 
whatever 1 undertook — never had but three 
mouths schooling — hence am more familiar 
with live languages than dead — never had a 
chance to cheat widows and orphans out of 
anything, no considerable sums ever having 
been left any length of time in my hands ! — I 



never had an opportunity of taking advan- 
) tage of my country's embarrasmen's to make 
money out of my people — never was suffi- 
ciently near the enemy to give me tlie chance 
to run — hence think I should make a good 
Brigadier-General, and this is the first time 
I ever had occasion to write a political 
letter, which is the only apology I have for 
its — red-tape style .Suffice it to say, sir — 
I deeply feel your remembrance and appre- 
ciate your friendship, — and those you repre- 
sent — and encouraged by your kindness, I 
pledge myself to keep my future as free from 
blemish as is my past career — and some day 
hope to prove to you that your confidence 
has not been misplaced — meanwhile I ask 
you to present my warm regards to each of 
the distinguished gentlemen who have 
honored me by singing the testimonial, and 
request them to draw upon me at sight for 
any quantity of goodwill, and to remember, 
individually and collectively, when they 
cross the ocean, that they will always find 
au open door, a well-filled plate, and an 
honest welcome at number Eighteen St. 
James's-street. Faithfully and thankfully 
yours. 

Geo. Francis Train, 



ANNIVERSARY OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. 

[From the London American of February 26, 1862.] 



The Chairman :— I have received several 
requests from the ladies to hear Mr. Train. 
(Cheers.) Every five minutes some one sends 
Die up a card to say that they are waiting to 
bear Mr. Train — ( applause)^but I must tell 
you that Mr. Train, although urged on seve- 
ral occasions to respond to one of the regu- 
lar toasts, has declined to do so. But 1 am 
sure after the loud call he has heard he will 
hardly have the courage to refuse. ( Loud 
ap])lause.) 

Mr. 'J'kain, who was received with loud 
cheers, said : — Mr. Chairman, ladies and gen- 
tleman — You are right — 1 have the courage 
to be an American in a foreign laud, when 
Americans needed some one there to make 
known their determined intention to pre- 
serve intact our nation — our union — and our I 
flag — ( cheers) — but I am not bold enough ' 
to say "No" on the birthday of our (Jreat 
Captain, to the call of so many of my fair coun- 
trywomen. — It is a long time since 1 have ' 
heard a cheer — aad I take it from you with I 



a welcome and will, not for myself — but to 
pass along away from this great London — 
over the corn-fields and the castle — past the 
homes of England's peers and England's 
peasants — -onward out of the river on to the 
ocean — near enough to startle the pirate 
captain of the Nashville from his unhappy 
dream of treason — still further on until the 
sound of your patriotic voices strikes with 
the dashing wave upon our rock-bound coast, 
abd mingle its soul-stirring music with the 
Union cannon, to cheer our glorious warriors 
on to victory. (^Loud cheers.) I take your 
cheers and speed them on to my dear coun- 
try, where God knows they need them bad 
enough ; for it is many a long day since we 
have had a cheer from this grand old land of 
our fathers, where we thought we had a right 
toexpect them. (Hear, hear.) If England 
thinks that we have lost our nationality, look 
at these well-filled tables — listen to the ele- 
gant speeches that we have heard to-night — 
and tell me if we represent so many earnest 



train's union speeches. 



87 



men and earnest women, how is it possible 
for any one to suppose that we do not pos- 
sess tlie power of puttinj;' down revolution ? 
( Cheers.) When it became known that wo 
have been only loading our cannon, and bur- 
nishing our armor — and that the battle is 
only now commenced, England will look on 
amazed to witness such terrible energy — 
such masses of well drilled men — such pon- 
derous engines of war — don't be dismayed, 
for there is a good time coming, boys — wait 
a little longer. ( Cheers.) Read about the 
battle of Somerset, where two rebel generals 
died the ignominious death of traitors — short 
dispatches strike the heart when we find 
them full of victory. We have met the 
enemy, and they arc ours, said old Perry on 
the lakes ! I am in the Malakoff, and mean 
to stay there, telegraphed IJosquet to the 
Emperor ! Fort Henry is ours ! The Union 
flag is again estalilished in Tennessee. ( Loud 
cheers.) It will never be removed — (loud 
cheers) — was the last note of war that Mas 
flashed along the western wires from General 
llalleck ! ( Applause.) Don't you feel in 
the air, some mysterious agency that carries 
to your expectant mind, the news of vic- 
tory ? Pulaski is taken by this time ? Fort 
Donaldson has fallen and perhaps this is the 
day that McClellan has waited for to nail 
the flag over the mountain passes of Manas- 
sas. (Cheers.) There is a good time com- 
ing, boys — wait a little longer. I agree with 
Dr. MacGowan — the Revolutionists must be 
either our fellow-citizens or our fellow-sub- 
jects. ( Hear.) I agree with Mr. ]\[orse 
that separation is impossible, and the Union 
must be preserved. ( Cheers,) It is a sad 
sight, on the great desert, to witness the 
meanest animal adrift in the sand — sadder 
still to pick up a little summer bird perish- 
ing in the snow-bank — and more pitiful to 
meet, way out in the ocean, a noble sliip dis- 
masted, with the sea-birds floating in the 
sea-weed, and hovering around and on the 
wreck, slirieking an ocean requiem over the 
human life that perished there ! Such things 
make heavy the sensitive mind ; but these 
are light matters to awak(>n sympathy, com- 
pared with the atllicting sight of meeting 
abroad a citizen of a great country that was 
destroyed by treason ! A peerage or West- 
minster Abbey, said Nelson, as he plunged 
into Trafalgar ! I would say Union Eternal, 
or if not, then throw me into some pauper 
grave — and hastily rattle the stones over my 
bones, and put up a perishable slal), on which 
inscribe these words : — Here lies an Ameri- 
can who lived a happy life witli the belief 
that he was a citizen of the grandest of em- 
pires— l)ut died a miserable" existence in a 
hostile land, without a home, a friend, or coun- 
try ! Hannibal swore eternal hate against 
the Romans. I call upon you each and all 
to swear eternal love to the union of our 
America. ( Loud cheers.) There are twen- 



ty-five millions who will remember the in- 
spired words of Ijawrence, as they waved the 
flag over his head as th(> caimon balls were 
striking around him. — Don't give up the 
ship. ( Applause.) England is coming round 
again. Let us announce a few more victo- 
ries, and a Secessionist will only be known 
as one of the fossils of the museum — even 
now the tone is changing. Mr. Tiiompson 
and AVilkes and Deal have spoken to-night 
the words that thousands and tens of thous- 
ands think. The press has changed its war 
tone— and the parliament is kind again — and 
liOrd John Ru.ssell is doing his best to rival 
Mr. Seward in compliments. ( Applause.) 
Mr. Seward expresses our position in a sen- 
tence. — We are fighting for self-])reservation 
and the common rights of human nature. 
(Cheers.) The noble earl made one mistake 
in his celebrated speech — he said the South 
was fighting for independence, and the North 
for empire. — He should have reversed it to 
express the nation's sense — the North is 
fighting for independence and the South for 
empire. ( Cheers.) My countrymen — and 
my fair countrywomen — there is one thing 
we must never forget. During our dark 
days of doulit, and dread of adding another 
war and its wild horrors to the exciting revo- 
lution — there were two English journals in 
Loudon that boldly spoke for our distracted 
country — asking for fair play — for trial be- 
fore execution. When all the great presses 
were throwing off war bulletins by hundreds 
of thousands, the Morniuy !Har and Daily 
News ( cheers) stood fast by the Union and 
cheered the North on to put down the base 
falsehood that our Republic was no more — 
those who befriend our adverse days must be 
remembered when we are once again in pros- 
perity. ( Applause.) You will shortly see 
the Times come round and say : We al- 
ways told you so. ( Laughter.) Mr. Fer- 
gusson paid a l)eautiful tribute to England — 
the old story of the sun never setting and 
rising upon her dominions — ( hear) — I en- 
dorse it all, although my endorsement may 
not be considered gold bars at the bank, 
( laughter,) liut I am sure he will pardon me 
tor taking all these beautiful ideas he ap- 
plied to England, and let me adopt them for 
America. ( Hear and laughter.) We want 
the sun never to rise, and set in the domin- 
i(nis of America. ( Cheers.) I will use his 
very words — America is the land of freedom 
— the harl)inger of progress and the cham- 
pion of liberty. ( Loud cheers.) And I am 
sure tiie reverend speaker will admit tliat 
there is many a true word spoken in earnest ! 
( Laughter and cheers.) Another speaker 
alluded to America as a nolile tree in a 
neighboring garden. — I will carry on the an- 
alogy by saying that this whirlwind of re- 
bellion was needed to sweep through the 
l)ranches and shake off the worm eaten fruit 
that has prevented the Union I'lppius — 



88 



TRAIN S UNION SPEECHES. 



( cheers) — from jsTowing to the size that God 
inteiuUHl them to grow. ( Cheers.) 

What of debt — or taxes, or money — admit 
that it costs two hundred and fifty millions 
sterling. What is that? Why, only ten 
pounds apiece for the twenty-live millions of 
Unionists in the land. The country would 
be cheap at that, so let us pay off the whole 
next year and start afresh. (Loud cheers.) 
iSIr. Adams has eloquently spoken for the 
Union. He represents a whole line of Pres- 
idential Kings, whose family pictures are in 
all our New England households. (Cheers.) 
And I well remember at school we were 
taught to repeat the words of Webster that 
he put in the mouth of the second Presi- 
dent, the learned grandsire of our excellent 
Minister — "Sink or swim, live or die, survive 



or perish, I am for the Declaration — it ba^ 
been my living sentiment, and, by the bless- 
ing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment. 
Independence now, and Independence for- 
ever." (Cheers.) I would add. Union now 
and Union forever. (Cheers.) Let me add 
a toast, as I take my seat. I got up for the 
ladies, and for the ladies I sit down. The 
fair faces of my countrywomen are full of 
the glow of patriotism — their eyes flash with 
fire — (laughter) — love of country, and home, 
and friends. (Cheers.) The loyal woraea 
of America have done their share, and are 
still at the post of honor and of duty. The 
sentiment I give, is, — Our Loyal Country- 
women : May they be united — to a man I 
(Loud laughter and cheers.) 



$ 



